Jak and Daxter: The Altered Journey
by reithedragonboy
Summary: An alternate version of the story from the start of Jak 2; a what-if story where a single alter drastically changes the entire story as we know already it to be. The summary will be in the first two chapters since it's long and I can't fit it all in here.
1. Jak and Daxter

Hello everybody. This is a new story that I came up with after I got myself immersed into the Jak and Daxter universe. The debut of this story also serves as my own way of celebrating my graduation from high school! I'm finally out in the real world and getting ready for college. Anyway, I hope you like this first chapter.

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**Summary:** We all know of the regular Jak and Daxter story. Jak gets sent back into the time of Haven City with his friends, the time frame where he was born in, and is made into this dark eco creature by the hands of Errol and Baron Praxis. He then goes to take revenge on them and ends up moving on to the events of Jak 3 where he fights to save not only his hometown this time around, but also the Desert City of Spargus, a city that his long-lost father rules over, and the entire planet. This all happened as a result of one event that occurred at the time before this whole mess started.

However, what if that one event were to be changed? What if it were changed around to the point where it came close to but never ended up taking place? What will happen to the events that would have succeeded it? Will they either continue on as normal, have some things dropped and replaced with new events, or turn into something new altogether? There is only one way to figure out this answer, and that is to go with the flow and see where this branched off part of history will lead them. Will it lead them to a better future than the main timeline, or will it lead them to something even worse?

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Once you read this chapter, you'll know where my story starts out from. Hope you like the summary and the chapter that comes right after this. Please leave a review after you are done!

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Chapter 1: Jak and Daxter**

"Hey Jak!" a loud and very energetic sounding voice called out from just outside of a wooden house that was situated near the edge of a rather large cliff that overlooked a large body of open water and expanded towards the horizon as far as the eye could see. "You in here buddy?"

Not a second later after the question was voiced, a pair of padded feet were heard softly walking along the wooden floorboards. A boy inside the house, whose name was Jak and who seemed to be no older than fifteen, turned from his spot on a chair next to a table nestled in one of the corners to see who had called out to him. Actually, he had already knew who it was that was calling him before he even turned to fix his gaze at the open doorway. After all, there was only one person who would call for him in such a loud and energetic fashion.

Jak, like all of the other inhabitants of the small but peaceful village of Sandover that were in or around his age, led a simple life of freedom and fun balanced with a few touches of work from the adults every now and then to keep him busy and productive. He had pointy elf-like ears that stuck out towards the side, like everybody else, and had short greenish blond hair that seemed to have a slight wild side to it. On his head were a pair of goggles that were designed by another childhood friend of his, Keira. They were made with very durable brown leather straps and had a strong comfortable rubber barrier on the spot where the protective glass came in contact with the skin around his eyes, thus preventing it from painfully digging into the skin.

Both goggle lens were made to protect his eyes from the wind and whatever else was in the air, but one was more sophisticated and doubled up as a piece of machinery that detected any potential hazards along the road and any hidden paths along the way. Of course, it could only detect the hidden paths if Jak ever chose to slow down when riding on the Zoomer, a mobile machine that went in conjunction with his high tech goggles and something that the girl had created in the workshop underneath the house some time ago. He has kept the eyewear strapped tightly and comfortably on his forehead ever since he got them.

He had soon grown real attached to them and was rarely ever seen without them being on his head. It was so much so that he never bothered to take them off when prompted to. He always kept them on at all times of the day, including the times when he went to sleep or decided to go for a swim in the river or the beach. Thank goodness Keira thought ahead when she first created them and had managed to make the mechanical portion of it waterproof, thus allowing for it to double up as goggles meant to be used for swimming. It was truly a fantastic piece of equipment made by the skilled hands of a great inventor.

Anyway, Jak lived in the wooden house that he was currently in with an old man by the name of Samos, whom had raised him ever since he could remember which would be for most, if not all, of his life as if he were his own son. He was what the residents of Sandover called a sage, a person who had great skill and wisdom concerning the properties of Eco, the lifeblood of the planet. His specialty as a sage resided with anything that had to deal with plant life, which was made quite evident due to the many potted plants that had made their home here, so the people of the village and the neighboring areas have called him the Green Eco Sage, for anything that had to do with plant life or anything organic was associated with green Eco. He also happened to be Keira's father, so in a sense, Keira was not only a very close friend, second only to Daxter of course, but also his surrogate sister.

From the doorway of the simple wooden house came the owner of the voice who had called out to him a second ago. He looked down and saw his best friend, Daxter, walking towards him with a smile that was all too common with him on his face. The two have been best friends ever since they were little and were often seen playing around with each other at almost every hour of every day. The only thing that was considered odd about this pairing of friends was that Daxter was…not exactly human like Jak. He was, in fact, a small furry animal; an Ottsel to be more precise.

He was a small little creature who was able to walk upright on his two back legs in perfect balance and posture like a human. He had bright orange fur surrounding his body with some yellow at the jaw of his mouth and on his stomach area. His ears were either droopy or stood up straight; it all depended on the mood he was currently in. His ears were right now halfway between perked up and flabby in a downward position, showing that he was right now in just a neutral mood. His dark blue eyes, which also held a pair of goggles similar to Jak's and were specially made for his smaller head, immediately met with the blonde's lighter blue ones, and they exchanged greetings with each other through that one small meeting of the eyes, an action that both understood quite well.

They were the best of friends, more compatible than any other pairs of friends could be in Sandover; anybody in the village would have said exactly that. It was because they were such great friends that the two were able to read each other like a book and easily tell what the other was going to say before anything was said just by looking at the ever so subtle movements of the other's body. Even just looking in each others eyes was more than enough to tell the other what they wanted to say. That was how they tend to prefer their conversations to be. It was like their way of sending secret messages to each other without letting anyone know what was being relayed.

Under normal circumstances, the people would have thought it weird that a person and an animal would be friends; it would have been even weirder that there even was a talking animal. However, these circumstances were far from normal, although the two friends saw it like it was the normal everyday thing. To them, there was no barrier that stood between their friendship, including the fact that one was human and the other was a small animal. That, however, was not always the case between them.

You see, Daxter was not always a small, simple, and skinny Ottsel for the whole of his fifteen years of life. He used to be a human, just like Jak, with the pointy ears and flaming red hair that could have easily been mistaken for flames when given only a quick glance from a far distance against the horizon sun. However, there was this one incident that occurred a few months ago that caused him to transform into the small creature he is today. Needless to say, he has been stuck in this form ever since and has accepted his new form, albeit reluctantly from both friends. They made the best of the situation, though, and found ways to work around it.

"I figured you'd be in here with your butt on one of these chairs for no good reason," the small animal said with a large grin as he stopped just a foot shy from where Jak's feet were and crossed his arms. "You've been hanging around in this rickety old house for a good chink of a day ever since we took care of Gol and Maia, aka., The Creepy Siblings, a month or so ago. It's really not like you to be staying around in the house big guy. What gives Jak?"

Instead of saying anything, the teen just simply looked at the small Ottsel directly in the eyes with a small smile and a shrug of his shoulders. He kept his gaze fixed on the dark blue eyes and conveyed his thoughts that way to the inquisitive creature. His body language in combination with his eyes gave the whole side of his conversation, although his eyes did most of the talking.

Even though they were the best of friends and knew how to easily communicate with each other just through body language, there was still a good reason as to why they preferred this over conventional speech. Jak was a dumb guy; a mute would also be another way to put it, and probably nicer in the process. He could not vocally convey what was on his mind to others. As such, this usually posed a big problem when people not too familiar with his personality tried to start up a conversation with him. Note that he is not deaf, just plain mute.

Daxter, however, was an exception to this usual confusion; even though Samos and Keira understood him well enough to engage in a full conversation from beginning to end, they still did not quite understand every thing he tried to convey. Only the little guy understood every single word that was being visualized to him. He knew every word that was being said with the body language, and sometimes even before his body gave it away, just as well as the blond knew what he was going to say before he even opens his mouth to speak. That was how close as friends the two were, and it seemed that they would only grow closer as time goes on.

"_Hey Daxter,_" Jak greeted the Ottsel with a warm smile as the creature read the movements the boy made as if he were reading a painfully easy book. "_I'm just feeling a bit bored, I guess._ _I mean, things are kind of boring now that our little adventure's over. Don't you think so buddy?_"

"Yeah, I guess so," Daxter agreed with a shrug of his small shoulders before he made a leap towards the table that must have been at least a good couple of feet above him. He made it to the surface with great ease and took a seat on it while turning to face his best friend. "I am a little bored, now that you mention it. I wouldn't have called our adventure little though."

If there was one thing he was happy about being turned into a small orange furry creature, it would have to be that his jumping ability has been heightened. He could now jump almost as high as Jak could. That is putting into consideration if he were still a human now. He normally would not be able to jump even half as high as his best friend, and now he could with little trouble.

"_Are you sure about that buddy?_" the blond asked with a questioning eyebrow raised at his best friend's relaxed position and unusually bright smile being directed at him. "_You certainly don't look like someone who's feeling a little bored right now. If I didn't know any better, I think that you have something exciting planned inside that mind of yours, if that smile of yours doesn't already give it away. Come on, out with it you little runt. What's on your mind right now?_"

"Hey, I resent that!" the Ottsel argued rather heatedly, although he did know that it was all only in good nature and fun. "I'm not a little runt! I'm a 2'10" tall Ottsel, thank you very much. I come up just a bit short of your waist if you actually measured with me against a wall or something. You can't consider that as someone being a runt when they're almost half as tall as you."

"_Yeah, whatever,_" he signaled with a roll of his eyes and a small smirk. He then brushed a loose strand of hair from his eyes while keeping his eyes on his friend. "_Just skip to it and tell me what's on your mind already. We don't really have all night to be talking to each other, you know?_"

"Yeah, I know that. You're the one who started the whole runt business, though. It's kind of your fault then that we got sidetracked a bit. Anyway, I was just thinking about what we're going to be doing with Keira and old Loghead tomorrow morning. They said that they were almost done fixing up whatever that stupid piece of Precursor crap is and that it should be ready then."

"_Well, Keira said that it looked like a bigger version of the warp panels that each of the sages have in their houses. She said that it might be something similar to that, although a lot more powerful due to its larger size. That and we have no idea as to where it's connected to. She's planning on having us try and go through it once she puts the finishing touches on it._"

"Wait a minute! Are you saying that she's planning on having us go jumping into the stupid ring as if it were just a regular warp panel and have it dump us in the middle of a place that only the Precursors know about?" Daxter asked with a somewhat fearful look on his face. "A place that we don't know about and where we could potentially…die? I don't think I really like that idea."

"_Oh, it's not going to be all that bad,_" Jak assured his best buddy with a smile as he shook his head at his usual antics. "_Besides, it's not just going to be the two of us going through it. Samos and Keira are coming with us, too. Don't forget that they made a vehicle that can seat the four of us. Once they're done with it, then we'll be good to go. After all, that big warp thing was pretty much in good shape when we found it in Gol and Maia's Citadel._"

"That doesn't really make me feel any better buddy," the Ottsel stated in a worried tone, another antic of his whenever he tried to get out of anything that was potentially dangerous. "I don't like the idea of going through some suspicious Precursor techno-crap and hoping that we all survive the trip. That and we don't know if we're going to be able to get back here."

"_You know, you've got to learn how to loosen up a bit, little guy,_" the blond sighed out as his shoulders slumped slightly and he gave a serious stare at his small friend. "_You never know when the time will come that you'll have to fend for yourself against danger. I'm not always going to be around to help you and give you a safe shoulder to climb up on. And who knows? You might actually end up saving me one of these days._"

"Heh, that'll be the day, Jak. With this body of mine, I don't think I'll be doing any rescuing of anybody for a very long while. Besides, you know me better than anyone else in this village. I don't like to get my hands, or paws in this case, in any dangerous things that could potentially kill me. Call me chicken, but I just like to be on the cautious side of things."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "_A bit too cautious if you ask me._" He then gave off a happy smile. "_Then again, that's what I like about you. You always keep me on my toes, and you always come through for me in the worst of times, despite your many complaints on not wanting to go with me every now and then._"

"Yeah, well, somebody's got to look after you every time you try to do something crazy and go somewhere dangerous. I'm probably the only guy around here qualified to do that job. That and…" he paused a bit before he rushed the last words out of his mouth. "I worry about you every time you're on your own."

For a moment, both teens stayed relatively quiet. Only the sounds of the waves hitting the cliff face and the small sounds from the heart of Sandover Village reached their ears. They were both reflecting on what was last said just a few seconds ago by the little Ottsel.

"…_You worry about me, huh?_" Jak asked as he propped an elbow onto the table and rested his head on the palm of his hand. "_How can you worry about me being on my own when you're always by my side on every adventure I get myself into? It doesn't really make a lot of sense buddy._"

"Well, that's my way of avoiding that worry," Daxter stated as he pointed a finger at his friend in a matter-of-fact way. "Haven't you noticed that I always end up tagging along with you on every adventure you get yourself into, despite how greatly I sometimes argue against going? That's my way of worrying about you, even though it doesn't really seem that way at times."

"_Try all the time,_" the blond added with a smirk of his lips. "_You always whine about every little thing during the adventures we get ourselves into. It's not only during the time before we go on the fun, it's also during the time we're on it that you complain about me doing dangerous things._"

"And with good reason, too. We always end up nearly getting our butts burned on all the little things that are associated with any kind of adventure we go on together. Of course I'd be complaining about everything.

"Anyway, we're starting to get way off track here, big guy," the Ottsel said as he waved his arms in front of him in an overdramatic way. "I only came in here to look for you so I could ask if you were free tonight to have a little fun. So what's the answer? Are you free for some fun tonight?"

"_And what exactly is it that you have in mind Daxter?_" the blond asked as his eyes reflected the intrigue he was feeling right now at what his friend had in mind. "_You're not planning on doing some exploring outside of the village when it's close to sundown or something crazy like that, are you?_"

"Are you kidding me, Jak? I swear, that's the last thing on my list of things to do right now. I was actually thinking more along the lines of heading down to Sentinel Beach and go swimming for a bit there under the setting horizon sun. It's been a while since we've been able to do that. So what do you say buddy? Are you up for a little dip in the ocean right now?"

Jak seemed to contemplate the suggestion silently in his head for a while as he strummed his fingers of his free hand on the wooden tabletop. He stole a quick glance outside of the window which showed a great view of Sandover Village before shrugging his shoulders in agreement.

"_Sure, I've got nothing better to do right now,_" he stated with a smile. He then indicated with a small lazy stretch of his arms, "_And you're right about that. We haven't really had a chance to go swimming in the beach for a while. A quick swim in the ocean would be nice now._"

"Then what are we waiting for big guy?" Daxter asked in a real excited tone as a huge grin started to appear on his face. "Let's hurry up and get to the beach before what's left of the sun sets. Last one to get down there is a nasty Lurker!"

In a quick flash, Daxter quickly jumped off from the table and began running out the door with great speed for such a little creature. Jak soon followed suit once he got up from his chair and followed closely behind his best bud. They continued on with this small race of sorts until it ended in a tie with both boys making a splash in the ocean where the cool water met the soft sand at the same time.

Once they both took a moment to catch their breaths, they immediately went for a swim under the light of the setting sun. They splashed each other and had swim races to see who was the fastest. Overall, they were just having some nice fun as they would normally have when Daxter was still a human.

Little did they know that this innocent fun between them was probably going to be the last one that they would have in a long while. In fact, it could quite possibly be the very last time that they could have fun like this without a care or worry in the world. It would be the events that would happen in the next day that will dictate this and forever change their lives, whether for the better or worse.


	2. The Calm Before The Storm

Hello! Here's the second chapter of this story. I hope you enjoy it. And here's the summary of the story again in case you either missed it or neglected to read it. That and it sounds like it belongs at the start of this chapter, as well. Anyway, don't forget to leave a review when you're done reading. Thank you and happy reading!

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**Summary:** We all know of the regular Jak and Daxter story. Jak gets sent back into the time of Haven City with his friends, the time frame where he was born in, and is made into this dark eco creature by the hands of Errol and Baron Praxis. He then goes to take revenge on them and ends up moving on to the events of Jak 3 where he fights to save not only his hometown this time around, but also the Desert City of Spargus, a city that his long-lost father rules over, and the entire planet. This all happened as a result of one event that occurred at the time before this whole mess started.

However, what if that one event were to be changed? What if it were changed around to the point where it came close to but never ended up taking place? What will happen to the events that would have succeeded it? Will they either continue on as normal, have some things dropped and replaced with new events, or turn into something new altogether? There is only one way to figure out this answer, and that is to go with the flow and see where this branched off part of history will lead them. Will it lead them to a better future than the main time line, or will it lead them to something even worse?

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**Chapter 2: The Calm Before The Storm**

The next day came as quickly as the fun Jak and Daxter had last night on Sentinel Beach had ended. It was now mid-morning and the two of them, plus Samos and Keira, were congregating next to the cliff edge near the wooden house. Extending out from the cliff edge was a wooden plank that housed the big Precursor artifact at the end of it. How did Keira managed to not only build the plank, but also make it durable enough that the heavy Precursor artifact would not break it with its immense weight, was beyond their comprehension, including Samos's.

"My Keira, I still can't believe that you managed to do most of the work on your own," the old sage stated in awe and wonder as he continued to look over his daughter's amazing handiwork. "You've truly outdone yourself this time, my dear. A great job indeed. Well done."

As stated earlier, Samos was an old man whose knowledge and wisdom in anything that revolved around plants and Green Eco earned him the title as the Green Sage. His skin was a light and pleasant green color, probably a slight side effect from being exposed to Green Eco for an extended period of time. He was a rather short man, a fact that he clearly did not like for he gave himself more height my tying both of his feet down to a couple of wooden tree stumps that gave him a few more inches and letting them serve as his footwear. He held in his hand a dark brown staff that was carved out of aged oak and polished to the point that the wood was incredibly smooth to the touch and reflected the sun's rays. His white hair, probably the only sign of his aging process, was held together by a hollow tree trunk that was used as a hair tie of sorts and was meant to cover the slight bald spots that would have been apparent on his head without it. His eyes, which were still scanning his daughter's work and shimmering with great excitement, were hidden behind a pair of spectacles, and his white beard stood out from the earth brown vest he wore on his body.

"Oh, that was nothing daddy," she said rather indifferently as she simply waved the compliment off without a second thought as if it were not a big deal. She then pointed to a rather lumpy object that was covered in a white sheet stained with small dark oil splotches, "The real work is what lies hidden underneath this sheet This is the one that deserves all the praise."

Keira was the daughter of the old sage and was considered to be one of the greatest inventors of the times. Her father greatly supports his only child's aspirations and always admires the work she presents to him, no matter how small or insignificant it was. She had dark green hair and a nice slim body to go with her perfect unblemished face. She wore a white shirt that showed off a little bit of her stomach and a pair of purple pants that were cut off right at the knees. She also wore a pair of goggles that were similar to the ones she made for Jak, but they were not as advanced as his. They were meant more for catching any kind of mechanical errors that would otherwise have been easily missed during the initial stages of her creations.

"This thing underneath the cover is going to be the thing that'll help us go through this ancient Precursor warp portal," she explained as she walked over to the sheet, her brown boots making soft noises on the wood planks underneath her. "After all, it takes at least a certain amount of speed for us to enter one of the regular ones. I can only assume that one as big as this will need to be approached at a faster pace. That's where this baby will come in."

After the short intro in an attempt to build up the mood, she placed a hand on the white sheet and quickly pulled it away, thus revealing what was hidden underneath it. It was a rather crude making of a vehicle of sorts that was created from various pieces of metal and wood that were put together in rather intricate ways that the two teens would never have thought of. Unfortunately, such a combination of wood and metal did not make for a very reliable-looking creation and it did not seem as though it would not hold up for a long time.

Despite its rather shabby appearance though, Jak was confident that it was more durable than it looked. After all, he knew that most of the things Keira made always worked better than they initially looked. That and the durability feat that was proven when Daxter decided to try and throw a heavy wrench at it to see if it would fall apart at any second at the harsh contact.

"Hey, don't treat it so roughly, Daxter," Keira lightly reprimanded him as she quickly walked over to the vehicle and inspected the spot where the wrench had struck it for any damage. "I know that it doesn't really look like much right now, but I can promise you that it can help us get the job done. After all, I put all my heart into making this and making sure that it'll work; and I also tried to model it off of the Zoomer that's downstairs. Besides, most, if not all, of the things I create never fails when we really need them the most."

"Yeah, well, you keep on thinking like that girl," the Ottsel stated in a rather disbelieving tone as he continued to give the vehicle the shifty eye. "Your luck on this is bound to run out sooner or later. And what are you saying about that thing only being your creation? The last time I checked, Jak and I practically found everything for you and lifted all the heavy stuff around. Most of the hard work was done by the both of us while you did the easy stuff and assembled it."

At this remark, Jak simply smacked his hand on his forehead and shook his head a bit. He was expecting the small creature to be going somewhere along the lines of that, and boy was he right. He was always quick to complain about the small things like that. Although, he did have to admit that they did do most of the heavy lifting and stuff. Actually, he did all of the heavy lifting. Daxter just helped him with spotting the things that they needed, which was still a great help to him.

He was still wearing the same clothes that he had on yesterday, except that these were a cleaner version; a blue sleeveless tunic that showed off his strong arms held tightly against his body with a brown belt and a rather large circular hook at the center of his chest in combination with a pair of white shorts. He had a silver forearm and shoulder guard that that he wore primarily along his left arm. He did used to have both of his shoulders donned with a guard.

However, ever since Daxter had that little incident on Misty Island with the Dark Eco, Eco that was considered to be highly dangerous and deadly and could kill you if just a drop comes in contact with your skin, Jak had all but abandoned the right one. He noticed then that his immensely lucky little buddy had started to take a fancy for his right shoulder and hung around on it often, so he abandoned the guard and allowed his buddy to have a comfortable position on it. And of course, the goggles he always wore were secured tightly on his forehead, giving the Ottsel a place to rest his arms in a relaxed position and thus completing the boy's ensemble.

"See? Even Jak's agreeing with me on this," the creature complained as he looked at his best friend and saw him with his hand still covering his face and shaking his head. "We did all the heavy lifting and you just put all the pieces together. I'm telling you, you had the easy job Keira."

"_Actually, I think putting the whole thing together was harder than having to find all the stuff to make the darn thing,_" the blond signaled as he looked at his buddy straight in the eyes after removing his hand from his face. "_If you think about it, we_ _did the easy part while she did the hard stuff._"

"Yeah, whatever," he shrugged it off as he quickly scampered towards Jak and took his spot on top of his right shoulder before seeing Keira committing to a last minute check on the vehicle. "I still think she got the easy job, big guy. After all, it wasn't her who was risking her neck on Misty Island and in the Forbidden Forest just outside of Sandover Village to be looking for all this stuff. And whose side are you on anyways? It sure doesn't sound like you're on mines."

"That's enough, Daxter!" Samos stated rather abruptly, causing the creature to jump a bit out of surprise. "It doesn't matter who got the hardest job. What matters at this point is that we're finally ready to see just what this ancient piece of Precursor technology can actually do. We've come so far to get to this point and I intend to see it all the way through while I still live."

"Huh, ever the excited one, are we old Loghead? I swear, you're starting to act like a little kid about the whole thing. I really don't see what's all the excitement about this thing. It's just an oversized version of what looks like the warp portal that you have sitting in your house."

"You had best start to learn how to appreciate the things that the ancient Precursors have left behind for us to discover," the old sage said as he examined the vehicle before hopping in and taking a seat on one of the available seats. "You never know when one of these things might end up saving your life. Things like that happen when you least expect it."

"_You know, Samos could be right on that buddy,_" Jak said as he shot a quick grin at the Ottsel on his shoulder. "_You'll never know when we might actually find a piece of ancient Precursor technology that'll end up saving our lives in a time when we think we're going to die. Anything's possible, you know?_"

"Yeah, just like it's possible that you've been hanging around with old Greenie here for too long," Daxter said with a roll of his eyes as he playfully poked at the blonde's ear. "That's enough moping around in the house all day for you. I swear, I think he's starting to rub off on you a little bit."

"Alright, everything looks good here!" Keira exclaimed happily as she took a seat right next to her father. "All the pieces are connected with each other and they're as sturdy as they're going to be. Hurry up and hop in, you two. We can't start the road of discovery without you guys with us."

"_We're coming!_" the blond exclaimed with a quick wave of his hand as he quickly hopped into the last remaining seat left available right next to the girl. He then shifted his gaze to the Ottsel that was still planted firmly on his shoulder. "_You know, it might be best if you got youself down from there Daxter. It might be a bumpy ride and you can easily get jostled off of this thing._"

"Don't worry about it Jak; I'll be fine," the Ottsel assured him with another playful poke at his ear before he dismounted from the teen's shoulder and took his place on top of what appeared to be a dashboard filled with various controls and a couple of Precursor technology. "Trust me, once you're friends with Orange Lightning, it'll be hard to get rid of him, whether you like it or not. I'm always going to be by your side and stuck to you like glue."

"_And I wouldn't have it any other way buddy,_" he indicated with a warm smile._ "After all, this little trip of ours won't be as much fun without you around, you know? By the way, when did you come up with the nickname 'Orange Lightning' for yourself?_" he inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"I came up with it a few days after I got turned into this nice little furry animal. I got orange because of my new orange-yellow fur, and I can now move around just as fast as you when you're not pumped full of Blue Eco, hence the word lightning. I then just put the two words together and created the name 'Orange Lightning!' Pretty creative, don't you think?"

"_Uh, yeah, whatever. Whatever floats your boat here,_" he said with a look that clearly said "What the heck?" "_I swear, you're the only person I know who could come up with a weird nickname like that and an equally weird explanation to go along with it. You truly are a one-of-a-kind._"

"If you two are quite done talking about useless nonsense to each other," Samos broke in with a loud clearing of his throat. "We don't have time for that. I would like to get on with this while I'm still alive and kicking. I would like to see just what this old artifact can really do and see if it really is the same thing as the small-scale warp portals we sages have. If it is, then I do hope it proves to be a more pleasant ride than the others. I hate warping around to different places of the world. It's a rather uncomfortable way to travel and gives me quite a headache."

"Uh, then why are you so eager to try it out if you think that it might be a big warp thing and you hate traveling through them?" Daxter asked with a scowl as he started to fiddle around with a couple of the knobs and levers. "It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me, except for the part where you said you really like all this Precursor stuff and wanted to compare it with the other stuff we have here."

"Oh, you know that's how daddy is," Keira explained as she politely tried to get the Ottsel to stop messing around with the controls. "Even though this artifact just might be a warp portal, it's a chance of a lifetime at being able to learn something new about the legendary Precursors, the ones who're said to have created this world into what it is today. It's not everyday that he gets to have such a great opprotunity to see great technology of theirs like this."

"Well said, Keira!" the old sage replied proudly with a smile. "I couldn't have phrased it better myself. It is exactly as she said. It is for that reason alone that I will choose to put up with warping around. Just as I have learned to put up with you and your childish antics Daxter."

"Hey, I resent that, old man!" the creatures exclaimed heatedly as he crossed his arms against his chest. "I don't have anything childish about me," he added with an ironically childish pout on his face. "I can be totally serious when I want to." Jak simply rolled his eyes at this.

"Anyway, how do you propose that we go about activating this thing?" the sage continued on as he completely ignored the small Ottsel that was now giving the blond a dirty look. "Knowing Precursor technology, I suspect that it would take some kind of Eco to activate it."

"That's what I was thinking, too," the young girl agreed as she took out a small round object from her pocket and placed it on the dashboard. "I think this might be the key to making it work. I found it attached to the artifact while we were relocating it here. I took it out, examined it, and figured out that it should work in conjunction with it. All we need now is for someone who's used to working with old Precursor technology to activate it."

"And I'm guessing that's where old Jak comes into play, right?" Daxter asked as he quickly shifted his attention to the egg-like artifact. "He's the guy who has activated more Precursor crap than the rest of us combined. You're thinking that he'll be able to figure out how to make this work, right?"

"Exactly," she said as she quickly took the artifact and tossed it to Jak, who caught it with ease, before the Ottsel could get his hands on it. "He's activated so many of them; I lost count somewhere along the way. If there's anyone who could stand a chance at making this whole thing work, it's Jak."

"_Uh, thanks Keira,_" Jak, who had been watching quietly ever since Samos cut off his conversation with Daxter, said with a sheepish smile growing on his face. "_I'm not really all that good with the Precursor artifacts, though. I just pick them up and try to see how they work._"

"Which is why I say that you're the best person there is to activate this. You always manage to find a way to make them work without having to break them. That and you tend to keep the sequence in your head for whenever you run into something similar and have to make it work again. Even if this is something new to you, I'm sure that you'll be able to get this Precursor artifact up and running. Even daddy said that you could do it when I talked with him last night."

"I only said that he had the potential to make it work, Keira," Samos corrected her, a habit that they all knew well whenever he put all his faith into something. He preferred to not put his full faith in something in case it backfired and ended up getting his hopes up for nothing. Even though they all knew how he really felt in situations like this, they always humored him. "It is, after all, a pretty sophisticated piece of technology. Chances are that he won't be able to find a way to make it work. However, I do admit that he has a knack on working with these ancient artifacts."

"Boy, you sure do know how to give people praise and take it right back, you know that Loghead?" Daxter said with a roll of his eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised if Jak decided that he didn't want to help you with this anymore after that. I sure as heck wouldn't want to."

Jak simply ignored his little hotheaded friend and began to examine the artifact that was still in his hands. He gave it a quick look from all sides before thinking about how to make it work. He kept it under his watchful eye for a few seconds as he tried to remember all the other pieces of Precursor artifacts he had activated before. After giving it a bit of thought, he decided to try and give it a small twist. In so doing, he felt the item move a bit and accidentally pressed down on the tip of the artifact.

"_Whoops!_" he winced a bit as he felt the top starting to sink within itself and towards the center. "_I didn't think that twisting it would allow for another part of this thing to work. Anyway, I think that did the trick. That ring should start working now after a couple of seconds._"

Just as he said, the artifact began to hover out of his hands and towards the big ring. Once it was just a few feet away from it, it emitted a few sparks before four lines of electricity coursed out of it and struck the ring at four different places. The ring seemed to respond to the action and it started to make a slight whirring noise. Another second later, parts of the ring started to separate and begin to rotate around in a circle; slow at first but steadily gaining speed until it was almost just a blur. The area that was portrayed within the artifact had then become distorted and looked as though a thin layer of water had appeared. They had managed to activate the ring without any problems.

"Oh, you did it Jak!" Keira exclaimed happily as she gave him a tight hug, a move that came quite suddenly and had caused the blond to tense up first before he loosened up into the embrace. "I knew you would be able to do it. Now we'll be able to see what this thing can do. Now it looks like a warp portal."

"You're quite right on that," Samos agreed as he could not keep the smile on his face from approaching. "I'm positively giddy with excitement right now. I can't wait to go through there and see what lies on the other side. I wonder if there will be more pieces of Precursor technology just waiting to be discovered."

"I wonder if there's going to be any kind of civilization on the other side of this thing," Daxter wondered as they all saw the orb starting to hover back towards them. "I don't want to be going to a place where they nothing but monsters that could easily eat you in one bite."

"_Trust me buddy; almost anything in this entire world can easily eat you up in one bite,_" Jak said with a very noticeable teasing glint in his eyes. "_Even most of the monsters around here have the potential to do that. I don't think it really matters for you on that. I do agree with you in hoping that there are people on the other side of this thing, though,_" he added as his face changed to that of slight worry.

"I'm sure there's going to be people on the other side boys," the old sage assured them as he started to pay attention to the artifact which had started to emit a reddish-orange color. "I don't think that the Precursors would have created a warp portal that would lead them to nowhere or somewhere of great potential danger. I'm sure that there's no need for worry on that accord."

"Well, there's always gotta a first time for everything, old man," the small Ottsel countered as he failed to see the glow starting to get brighter and attracting everybody else's attention through his argumentative rant. "Just like it was a first when you heard that I survived after taking a dip in Dark Eco from head to toe. You said that I was the first ever person you've heard of to have survived that."

"And I was telling you the truth when I told you that," he admitted without once making eye contact with the small animal. "However, that is not of any importance right now. That was an event that happened a while ago and should be kept buried in the past. What matters now is that we should try to figure out just what this artifact is doing. It has been emitting this strange glow ever since Jak managed to activate it. Do you think you can figure out what it might be doing Keira?"

"I don't know if I can; but I'll give it my best shot," she admitted as she started to closely examine the object without touching it in fear that she might accidentally activate something else. "If I were to take a guess, I would say that it's probably relaying out some set coordinates that have already been programmed into it to the warp portal. Other than that, I don't know what it could be doing."

"I suppose that is the most reasonable thing to think of at this point. If that's the case, then the next question we should be wondering is where the thing is being programmed to take us. I really do hope that it transport us to a spot where we can safely land this vehicle. It wouldn't be good if we landed in the middle of an ocean or somewhere worse than that."

"Uh, please don't continue with that line of thought," Daxter half-pleaded as he shuddered at the thought of landing somewhere where they will die immediately upon entering the portal. "I'm starting to get second thoughts here. Let me off this thing before you start firing it up."

"_Hey, look at that!_" Jak pointed towards the portal in a rather frantic way as his head snapped to that direction. "_Something's happening with it. What's going on here, Keira?_" he asked by shifting his gaze to her and gave her a concerned look.

"I'm not sure, Jak," she admitted as she looked at the disturbance that was quickly forming in front of them. "I think… I think that the other side of the warp portal was already working when we activated ours. Now, whoever's on the other side of it must be trying to get through to our side."

"If that's true, then I hope the people coming through are nice guys," the Ottsel exclaimed as the winds were starting to pick up around them. "We don't need anymore bad people trying to take over the world here. One pair of creepy siblings is more than enough for me."

Suddenly, the skies around the four began to darken. Soon, ominous black clouds filled the sky and blotted out the radiant Sandover sun. The winds grew even more fiercer and the dark clouds continued to grow denser until not even a speck of blue or a small ray of sun could shine through.

"This does not bode well," Samos muttered under his breath so softly that nobody could hear him over the roar of the wind. "I have a bad feeling about all this." He then shouted over the gale while trying to keep his glasses on his head, "Hurry up and shut the portal down Keira!"

"I can't!" Keira exclaimed as she shielded her eyes from the dust that was being raised. "This isn't like the portals that you and the other sages have daddy! It's too sophisticated in design. I don't think I can stop this one once it starts to send someone from one side to the other."

"Why do I get the feeling that you're saying we're screwed here?" Daxter whimpered out before a sudden bolt of electricity came flying out from the portal. "Ahh! That thing's starting to go crazy on us! Let's get out of here while we still have the chance."

Before anyone could make good on the Ottsel's suggestion, another bolt of electricity, this one much stronger that it managed to shake the ground a bit, came from the portal. In another second, an illegible form started to emerge from the machine. It was too hard to see what it exactly was through all the wind and blinding flashes.

"Finally, the rift barring me from this time frame has been opened," a deep and dark voice suddenly said in an eerily threatening manner. "Now I can wreak havoc upon this world and have it fall under my total command. Nothing shall stop me now!"

"Th-that voice…!" Samos exclaimed out loud wide-eyed and in complete shock as he diverted his complete attention to the warp portal, keeping his eyes open wide against the stinging wind so as to not miss a single thing. "But…but it couldn't be him."

In the next second, the illegible figure that was still making its way out of the portal began to take on a physical form. It soon became noticeable and everybody was shocked at what they saw, although nobody was quite as shocked as the poor Green Sage was.

"It _is_ him!" he exclaimed in a tone barely above a whisper, which quickly got swallowed up by the still raging winds so nobody ended up hearing him. "He's managed to arrive to this time . So this is how everything that I know of happened. This is when it all began."


	3. To The New World

Hello again! Here is another chapter to the story. As you have noticed, the past chapters closely followed the main storyline, with a couple of points that were either added or altered. This was just my way of building up to the part I came up with. It should come up in either the next chapter or the one after that. Just thought I'd tell you all that in case you were wondering why it was following the storyline almost word for word.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Please leave a review when you're done. I kind of need to know what you guys (and girls) think about this. Until the next update!

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Chapter 3: To The New World**

"Ha, what a sickly bright and green time frame this is!" the creature, who was still situated in front of the portal and floating in midair, spat out in a deep voice, a telltale sign that it was a male, as he took a quick look at his surroundings, ignoring the four pairs of eyes that were staring wide-eyed at him for the moment. "I never thought that this world used to be this bright and pure at one point. It is truly a beautiful place…, in the most sickly way possible," he added as he gave off a small snort of disgust. "It's almost like dumping an entire bag of sugar into one small cup of Eco. These are definitely not suitable conditions for me and my minions to live in if we are to make our home here. It's a good thing that I just so happen to know of a good way to fix this problem and change things around to my liking."

Just then, the creature, who was colored in a combination of radiant silver and blue so dark it could almost be considered black, gave out a mighty shout and a whole bunch of flying creatures came storming out of the portal. They all were the same color as him along with a pair of ebon wings to keep them afloat and a yellow jewel-like object at the center of their foreheads, but none were as large or boasted the same aura of power. It was clear to the four that the first one that came out was the leader of the bunch.

His facial complexion was also very different from the rest and exuded power beyond that of the others. It actually did not even look like a face; it looked more like he was wearing a very scary silver mask. It was like his very face was an even stronger indication of his power and the role he played as one of, if not the only, boss of the creatures. The small dullish yellow eyes, which were the same as its minions, continued to thoroughly scan its surroundings in a menacing way, and the black bat-like wings on his back kept him hovering above the ground as he did so.

"I'm sure the people of this time live such happy and undisturbed lives," the creature mused as his flying minions finally stopped pouring out of the portal. "They've probably never had a taste of utter danger and chaos in their entire lives. What an utterly boring way for them to make their living. I believe it's time that I changed things around and give these people a new outlook on life; one that is full of mystery and surprise, full of pain and despair."

"D-daddy, what is that thing?" Keira, who was still looking at the creature in complete shock, exclaimed with wide eyes and mouth wide open, breaking the shock-filled silence that had engulfed all of them since the start of all this. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before! Where did it come from? What's it doing here? What is it even talking about!"

"I-I have no idea Keira!" Samos stuttered out as his wide eyes never left the amazing sight that was before them. "I don't know where this thing came from or why it's even standing before us here. But if memory serves me correctly, then this creature before us and the others that came out after it are known as Metal Heads; frightful creatures who senselessly kill any humans that they see."

"I can see why you call those things Metal Heads!" Daxter all but screamed in fright as he moved right in front of Jak and kept his furry body close to his chest out of fear. "It doesn't take someone like you to tell us something as obvious as that. All of those stupid things practically have a metal head of their own! And did you really say that they like to kill humans like us when they see them? If that's so, then shouldn't we be making our way out of here?"

"_Uh, I think it's a bit late to do that, Daxter!_" Jak tensed up as his breathing quickened and he bit his lower lip in worry. "_That thing just started to notice that we're here. I don't think that it's going to be letting us go anywhere now that it knows we're right in front of him._"

"And what are you four doing here?" the creature, now known as a Metal Head, asked with slight intrigue. "It's strange that you all choose to sit right in front of a being who has the power to change the world. Were you the ones who activated the time rift on this side? If that's so, then on behalf of my minions, I thank you. Please accept this gift as a token of my gratitude. Don't worry; I'm sure you'll like it a lot. After all, it's the gift of a quick and painless death!"

All of a sudden, the numerous smaller flying Metal Heads that had previously made their way through the portal after the big Metal Head started to gather around him. They positioned themselves into a certain formation that looked like it was planned for whatever it was that they were going to do. Another second after the formation, each small Metal Head began to emit some kind of strange purple cloud that began to gather around their mouths. It seemed to have a slight electric charge to it and it progressively grew bigger and bigger. The big creature, who was in the center of the formation, simply smiled evilly at them as he watched the scene unfurl before him.

"Ahhh!" the Ottsel screamed at the top of his lungs as he began to run on panic mode. "We got to get out of here! We got to get out of here! How do we get this thing moving? Is it this button? Is it that one? Somebody help me to get this thing moving before we're toast!"

Jak did not need to be told twice that they needed to get out of there. Out of reflexes, he made a grab for the small Precursor relic that was still floating in front of them. Once he did that, a brilliant flash of light engulfed the vehicle and all four of them. It was so blinding; everybody had to shield their eyes from it, including the big Metal Head in front of them.

"Grr, what is this?" the Metal Head growled out as he was forced to look away from the blinding light and his minions shrieked in shock and stopped creating the weird purple fog. "Is this a trick or something? I thought that this was a time that once existed in the past! Knowledge on how to use these cursed Precursor relics should be severely limited, if not nonexistent, amongst you inferior humans compared to the ones I know of. How is it that you know how to not only activate them but also how to properly use them? Just who are you four?"

Suddenly, another loud scream was emitted from the small, furry Ottsel, except it sounded more like one of surprise than anything else this time around. This immediately caught the large Metal Head's full attention and he shifted his gaze back towards the white light, which had dulled down considerably so that it was just barely bearable to look straight at it. What he saw practically surprised him; it was so sudden that he did not have any time to make proper action.

"What the…!" he exclaimed just as he saw the vehicle that Jak and the gang were in dash out of the blanket of light and speed right at him at a frighteningly quick pace. He suddenly felt searing pain at his chest area as it made contact with him and pushed him back into the warp portal behind him, thus forcing him to leave back to wherever it was he came from.

"Yahhhh!" Daxter shouted as the vehicle rumbled violently upon contact with the Metal Head. It soon settled down though after a couple of moments to just a slight vibration…after they had entered the warp portal right after the creature. "Why are you making us follow that thing Jak? Are you crazy? As if trying to ram that thing with this hunk of junk wasn't already sending us into enough trouble. You just had to add this on top of everything else, didn't you?"

"_Hey, it wasn't my fault Daxter!_" the blond exclaimed with a worried glance, which also doubled up as a scowl, at his best friend as their surroundings changed to a purple background and rather hypnotic scene, something that they all clearly associated with warping. "_I only meant to try and push the thing back into the portal. I didn't mean for us to go in along with it!_"

"I know you meant well, Jak," Samos stated as he momentarily wiped his brow with the back of his hand and started to look around for any signs of the creature. "You did well to get him back to where he belonged. However, now we're going to his home, not to mentioned that some of his minions are still on our side!"

"Isn't there anything we can do to fix this problem daddy?" Keira asked rather fearfully as she grabbed hold of the side of the vehicle out of panic upon feeling it buckle around a bit. "Can't we all just go right back through this portal again once we safely arrive on the other side of it?"

"That sounds like it's the only thing any of us can do at this point," the old sage admitted as he gave off a sigh of relief. Apparently, the big Metal Head was nowhere to be seen. "Once we set foot on the other side, and that's assuming that we do so in a safe manner, we're going right though it again and make our way back to Sandover. If my hunch is correct, then I know where it is that we're going to. I'd rather you didn't see it. It's not the greatest of times to be taken to."

Before anyone could question the old man about his last cryptic sentence, the vehicle gave another lurch, this one more violent than the last. It then continued to do so without stopping and kept getting stronger and stronger until it almost felt like they were being tossed around like a rag doll.

"Wh-what's h-happening with this th-thing, Keira?" Daxter stuttered out as he held onto Jak's tunic to prevent himself from being violently thrown out while they were still warping to only the Precursors knew where. Jak, in turn, responded by placing a protective hand around the animal's small frame. "Why's it s-starting to g-go nuts on us a-all of a sudden? M-make it stop!"

"I-I don't know what's happening!" she exclaimed as she started to fiddle around with some of the buttons and levers on the dashboard. It did nothing to alleviate the shaking. "Nothing I do seems to be stopping it. I don't think that it can take the power that's being supplied to it by the relic. That's probably why it's starting to violently act up like this."

"That really doesn't do anything to make me feel better girl!" the Ottsel complained as he continued to have a death grip on the blue tunic underneath his furry hands, despite feeling the hand around him pull him closer to the blonde's chest and in a tight hug. "It just makes me feel a whole lot worse about this. Just hurry up and try to stop this crazy ride! I don't want to be thrown off and be left in the middle of nowhere without you guys."

"Oh no!" Samos all but whispered so softly that nobody could hear him through all this chaos. "I don't like this. I don't like the feel of this one bit. Hold onto something everybody!" he instructed everybody in a louder tone just as another terribly violent shudder shook them.

Another second later, a monstrous rumble that was unlike the previous ones they felt had caught them all off-guard; Daxter was especially taken by complete surprise. He was practically thrown clean out of the vehicle when he lost his grip on Jak's tunic, much to the blonde's surprise and horror.

"_Daxter!_" Jak practically shouted as he jumped out of his only safe spot and towards his furry friend without a second thought. He managed to grab a hold of his small arm before he was out of reach. "_Don't worry, buddy; I got you! Just stay close to me. You're safe!_"

"Uh, are you insane Jak?" the Ottsel screamed in both fright and surprise as he saw the vehicle they were in a second ago quickly disappear from his view. "You call this safe? We're still in the middle of warping to only the Precursors know where and we've been separated from Keira and old Loghead. Not to mention that they're still on the unreliable piece of junk that's slowly moving away from us. Are you really still going to say that we're safe?"

"Jak! Daxter!" they both heard Keira exclaim from what sounded like a great distance away. From the awkward position they were in, they managed to turn their heads around to see just where she was calling from. She, along with Samos, was probably no more than a couple of yards away, yet her voice seemed to grow more distant by the second just as their figures were slowly drifting further and further away from their immediate reach.

"You two must stay together Jak!" Samos hastily warned the two as a bright light started to grow in front of the vehicle. "Don't let anybody or anything separate the two of you! If things get too hairy, go to the port and ask around for the Underground! I'm sure they'll help you!"

"What are you babbling on about, Loghead?" Daxter shouted, still being held tightly within Jak's arms as the light near the old man and his daughter started to grow bigger and began to slowly engulf them. "What is this 'Underground' thing you're talking about? Just who or what are they?"

"Don't trust the KG boys!" the old man continued on as his voice started to gain an echo, a sign that he was about to exit the warp. "Whatever you do, don't believe in what they tell you! Only trust in the resistance! Don't allow them to taint your minds with false promises!"

With those last words of wisdom leaving his mouth with such a strong echo that it was almost indistinguishable, the white light had fully engulfed the two. Once it had dissipated, he and Keira had officially disappeared. They had officially left the warp area, whether of their own will or not, and were now at wherever it was that the portal would have led them to.

"Hey, don't you dare leave us in here old Greenie!" the Ottsel all but screamed hysterically, knowing full well that Samos and Keira could not possibly hear them. "Gah, now we're stuck here and on our own! What are we supposed to do now; stay in here until the day we die or something?"

"_Calm down Daxter!_" Jak shook the hysterical animal in his hands lightly in order to try and stifle some of his remarks of insanity, which were to no avail. "_We're going to be fine! Just calm down and stop going crazy on me. It's really starting to freak me out._"

"You seriously want me to calm down while we're both stuck in the middle of nowhere?" he shouted, amazed that he was still able to read the blonde's answers in his current state, albeit barely. "You try being calm when you're all on your own in this weird place with no one but your best friend to keep you company! We're doomed, I tell you!"

"_I said stop it, Daxter!_" the silent teen demanded as he shook his best friend a bit harder this time around. "_Everything is going to be fine. If you would just look straight ahead of you for just one second, you'll see that we'll be okay. That bright light that took Samos and Keira out of here is in front of us now!_"

"Wha?" Daxter exclaimed as he did what he was told and diverted his attention to where his buddy was indicating. Sure enough, there was a bright white light in front of them that was similar to the one that took the father and daughter out of this warp area. Just as it did with them, it started to grow larger and larger and eventually began to engulf the two with its radiance.

"Oh, sweet grace of the ancient Precursors!" the Ottsel loudly exclaimed yet again, although this time it was out of immense relief rather than another bout of indistinguishable hysteria. "We're going to get out of here! Oh, thank the Precursors for having mercy on us and sparing us from living a lifetime of isolation from the rest of civilization."

Despite having he himself suffer from a panic attack, more silently and mentally in contrast to his friend's loud and physical version, Jak could not help but to roll his eyes at his best friend's sudden shift from panicked hysteria to pure relief and dramatics. To be quite honest, it was rather comical and he would have laughed at it were they in a different situation. All he could muster at this point was a small smile that was a combination of both relief at their current situation and amusement at the Ottsel's recovery to his usual antics.

Soon, the light completely engulfed them and they both had to close their eyes to protect them from becoming blind for life. They then felt their bodies seemingly being pulled out the portal, thus ridding them of the strange levitating feeling they were experiencing ever since they jumped the vehicle. In replacement to that was the feeling of a cool breeze on their faces and the sensation of freefalling from an insanely high place. The sensation quickly grew stronger and caused their stomachs to perform multiple butterflies in the process.

After a short scream from Daxter, the two felt themselves hit something solid. They bounced off of whatever it was they landed on and went back down. The action was repeated a couple more times, each time causing their momentum to slow until they resorted to having their bodies skid a couple of feet before finally stopping with both lying on their backs, their faces pasted with a blank expression as they saw the blinding sun hit their eyes.


	4. Trouble Upon Arrival

**Chapter 4: Trouble Upon Arrival**

Both teens had their backs planted on something cold on the ground. Their eyes, which were expressionless for the time being, were staring up at the blue sky that seemed to be dulled out and obscured by a rather transparent gray fog similar to that of the volcanic smoke from the Volcanic Crater. Other than that, the sky looked pretty much the same as it was back in Sandover. The bright yellow sun, which was also slightly covered by the same grayish fog, was at a slight angle above them and was obscured by something that they could not see, so it was not much of a major issue, if they were even conscious enough to care about it, that is. It still provided the same warmth as it did on Sentinel Beach, which helped rejuvenate them a bit.

After a few more seconds of lying on the ground like a couple of dead animals, which is what they might have been mistaken for after hitting the ground hard a few times and not moving immediately after that, Daxter gave a small twitch of his foot and allowed a small groan to leave his lips. He then slowly propped his elbows behind him and brought himself up so that he was sitting upright. He was too disoriented to notice that he was sitting on something that was softer than the metal he was bouncing off of after leaving the warp portal. Even if he did notice it, he could have cared less about it and was more concerned about himself at this point.

"…Boy, that really hurt," the small Ottsel groaned out softly as he rubbed the back of his head with his left hand gingerly. "That was definitely not the smoothest of rides I've experienced with these stupid warp things. Remind me to never go rushing into one of them again with a vehicle that can go so fast that it'll end up breaking apart mid-warp and cause us to have a rather painful landing. God, I really wasn't expecting that to happen. I don't ever want to go through something like that again. I thought that I was actually going to die there for a moment!"

Once he managed to get his bearings straight a few seconds later, he began to look around for any signs of Jak. He knew that they came out of the warp together; he remembered being given the hug of death by the blond as they bounced off the ground like an overblown beach ball. With that said, he should have been somewhere nearby, but he could not see him lying around anywhere. He did not even see a small crowd gathered around him, which was odd considering how they just suddenly appeared out of nowhere to this strange place.

"Uh, Jak?" Daxter called out loudly as he searched around for the blond while still in his sitting position; what little passersby that happened to be around and walking by paid him no heed and continued on their way. They acted as though the loud shouting was something normal and continued on as such. "Where are you, buddy? Are you still around here? You better not have got up before me and decided to leave me here while you go wandering around. I swear, if you actually ditched me, I'm going to kill you the next time I see you."

It was then that he felt a small shudder underneath his feet. It was so small; he would have easily missed it were it not for his good Ottsel senses. That was probably one of the few things that Daxter liked about the transformation. It was his heightened senses and how it allowed him to catch the small feelings and sounds that he as a human and Jak would have otherwise missed or completely ignored. He first thought that it was a small earthquake; he then had a small hunch as to what it was when it continued in a rhythmic on-and-off fashion for a few seconds.

It was then that he finally noticed he was sitting on top of something soft. It was quite the opposite to the fact that he remembered landing on what felt like compacted dirt that was frozen over a bit. That and it was moving up and down slightly in a rhythmic fashion. Looking down to see what he was sitting on, he saw the familiar white pants that Jak wore, and he realized that he was lying on top of his chest.

"Oh, there you are! Uh, sorry about that, bud," he apologized as he quickly got off of the teen's chest and felt the bottom of his feet touch the same cold thing he fell on and immediately noted that it did not feel like dirt. "Didn't think that I would actually land on you, of all places. I actually thought that you left me for a moment there. Anyway, are you alright? You don't look so great."

"_What do you think?_" Jak responded with a weak swatting motion with his hand as he made to sit up, a move that proved hard since his back slightly hurt from being bounced off of a hard surface a few times. His facial expression completely screamed" Are you crazy?" when he heard Daxter actually say that he thought he abandoned him in the middle of this unfamiliar place. "_I've definitely felt better than this. That was the worst thing I've ever experienced._"

"You can say that again," the Ottsel agreed as he looked down at his feet to see what he was standing on. "Even being turned into a furry little animal was better compared to this. That was the worst few minutes of torture I've ever experienced. Anyway, it looks like we landed in some place made of metal. That would explain why the landing felt so painful."

"_Where are we, by the way?_" the blond asked as he started to look all around him. "_This definitely doesn't look like any other village I've ever seen before. It's almost as if we're back at Gol and Maia's Citadel, except there's a lot more metal and a lot less wood to go around. Did a place like this ever existed on the mainland or some other island near us?_"

"I somehow doubt it," Daxter stated as he, too, started to look all around him with eyes filled with disbelief. "I mean, just look at all this metal that's around us. It's on the roads; it's on what seem to be buildings; hell, it's even floating around in the sky! Those things look a lot like the Zoomer Keira has underneath her house back in Sandover," he added as he looked above him in amazement. "Just where in the name of the Precursors are we that they actually have the things to make more than one Zoomers and buildings like this? I'm sure we would've noticed this place a long time ago. It practically sticks out like a sore thumb."

"_Maybe we should look around a bit and see if we can spot anything familiar,_" he suggested, which earned him a weird look from his best friend when he said "familiar.""_Staying here and just looking at whatever these things are isn't really going to help us. We might even run into Samos and Keira while we're wandering around. I'm sure that they're somewhere near here looking for us._"

"As if I was going to have any objections to that. Staying still in one place in a middle of a strange place that we have no idea as to where in the world it's located is just as dangerous as moving around in an unknown place and getting ourselves potentially lost and possibly killed in the process. Then again, I suppose moving around is a bit safer than just plain staying still. At least it's a chance to find some weird things around here and stuff like that.

"Speaking of weird," Daxter added as he took his place upon Jak's shoulder and felt him start to walk down the metal-paved street, "where did all the people around here go? You'd think that there'd be at least a crowd forming around us after the sudden appearance we made here. I mean, I'm sure those Zoomers are run by the people, but there's not a lot of them on the ground with us. There's only a few here and there. It's almost like it's a ghost town or something like that," he said with a small yet noticeable shiver at the last sentence.

"_Maybe this is just one of the quieter parts of this town,_" Jak suggested with a shrug as he passed by a couple of small groups who gave him a weird look. He ignored them and continued walking in an unset path. "_I'm sure that we'll find some more people once we move on to a different part of this place. Besides, most of the people who live here could be busy doing their important stuff at this time of day. I'm sure this place is anything but a ghost town Dax._"

"So much so that they would choose to ignore the fact that we just popped out of nowhere in front of their eyes?" the Ottsel asked rather sarcastically along with a roll of his eyes. "I'm sure that's what everybody does around here; stay so absorbed in whatever it is that they do and don't pay any attention to whatever's happening around them. They must either be robots or zombies to be able to do that. If they are one of the two, then I think we're as good as dead now."

Instead of answering his overly zealous and cautious friend, the blond chose to ignore him and continued on down the very wide path that was in front of him. In every direction was something made out of metal for as far as their eyes could see, and Zoomers dominated the skies above them along with the tall structures that seemed to be buildings. That along with the rays coming from the sun and shining down on the metal, giving it a brilliant shimmer as if it were touching the surface of the ocean, made it all the more wonderful. It was an overall awe-inspiring scene before them; one that they did not fully understood but awe-inspiring nonetheless.

However, that great feeling they had upon seeing this new place was very short-lived. They probably spent a good five or so minutes turning around every corner they found and traveling on down the metal pathways. Everywhere they went, they saw the same metal buildings and the various models of Zoomers hovering above them. Sure, the buildings had to be different and they also saw a couple of the vehicles parked on the ground, but the overall scenery practically looked the same. That and there were no signs of any sort telling them just where in the world they were, making their little exploration of the area all that much harder. All this was definitely taking a toll on their patience and making them pretty aggravated.

There was no doubt in either of the teens' minds at this point that they were completely and hopelessly lost in this unknown place. There was practically nothing to help them guide there way; even the people they passed by did not look all that helpful. They either ignored them before giving them a dirty look and walking on by or gave them a seriously threatening look that caused them to immediately shut up and move on. In other words, the two were practically like a couple of children lost in a big store or something to that effect. It was also clear that this senseless wandering around was only helping them get into a position worse than what they were already in, so they stopped at the next corner they approached and took a break.

"Oh, this is stupid," Daxter sighed out in frustration as he hopped off of Jak's shoulder and paced around a bit on the ground. "It doesn't matter where we go; it all looks exactly the same! I wouldn't be surprised if we've been walking around in circles the whole time. Who the hell decided to make a city built all out of metal and make all these tall buildings look the same? I swear, they ought to hire a new architect and rebuild this place into somewhere less maze-like."

"_I have to agree with you on that one, Dax,_" Jak agreed as he leaned against the wall of a building that provided a bit of shade from the sunlight that had started to get just a little bit too warm for his liking. "_I don't think I've ever been to anywhere as confusing as this place in my life. How can the people who live here actually remember what part of town is where?_"

"Speaking of people, the natives here don't seem to be a friendly bunch," the Ottsel stated as he saw a couple walk past them with stone hard expressions on their faces. "You'd think that they'd be at least a bit willing to help someone who's asking them for it. Did you see some of the weird looks we got from some of them? They actually looked like they were ready to kill us if we kept talking to them. Talk about giving us a great welcoming party."

"_Uh, don't look now but I think we're about to get some company,_" the blond said as his eyes shifted to a group of people that were quickly approaching them. "_Take a look behind you. Those guys don't look as friendly as the other threatening people we walked by earlier, that's for sure. I wonder why they're in such a hurry to get to us? It's not as though we're about to be going anywhere anytime soon._"

"Maybe they're coming from the tourism committee," the small animal replied jokingly as he turned around and saw the three men continuing their fast pace towards them. "Maybe they caught wind of us popping into this town and decided to give us the grand tour. Either that or they just want to ask us about how we just suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

Altogether, the small group consisted of three people. Two men on either side of the third that was in between them were wearing what seemed to be heavy red metal armor from head to toe. They had in their hands weapons that they barely recognized because of its sophisticated looks: guns, bulkier and more advanced-looking than the one they saw the Yellow Eco Sage wielding back when they rescued him and the other sages from the clutches of Gol and Maia. They walked in unison and kept their guard up as they were seemingly protecting the one that was walking in-between them.

The third person was garbed in much lighter clothing, but still had a red upper chest armor plate on him that also covered his shoulders. His blue short-sleeved shirt went in perfect match with his blue and yellow-striped pants that it almost looked like a one-piece jumper suit. Tied to the upper part of his left leg was a holster of sorts with a handle of something sticking out of it. The two teens immediately assumed that there was a smaller version of a gun in there, for it looked a lot like the handles of the other two guns the red armored guys were carrying around.

"Are you sure those are the two that one of the patrolmen for this sector said he saw appear out from the middle of the sky and crash-land onto our beautiful city?" they both heard the middle man inquire once he was close enough for them to hear. "It only looks like a boy with a pet rat, if you ask me."

"Hey, what did you…?" Daxter started to shout out, but Jak beat him to it and scooped him into his arms. With a small squeal of surprise, he felt his mouth covered by a hand, thus preventing him from saying anything else or making any noise. All he could do at this point was squirm around in protest.

"I'm sure of it ,Commander Errol," one of the armored men replied as he shifted his gun around a bit. "The patrolman from group A of this sector radioed in to headquarters saying that there was some kind of amazing flash that appeared near the complex he was in. When he looked out the window, he said he saw those two in front of us. By the time he got out, though, they had already left."

"And I'm assuming that was when he decided to make the call in about it, right?" the man stated rather than inquired as he turned his head to face the man on his left, who had nodded in acknowledgement to the aforementioned question. "I swear, the whole lot of you are nothing but a bunch of lazy fools capable of only making mistakes, however minor they may or may not be! How many times have I specifically told you all to always report any and all suspicious activity before going on to try and deal with it yourself? I'll deal with the one responsible for that blunder later. As for right now, though…,"

The man, who Jak assumed to have been Errol, then directed his attention towards him and Daxter just as he stopped a couple feet away from them. His bright yellow eyes, which could have easily matched the brilliance of the sun above, quickly examined them from head to toe, probably for any signs that they could be a potential threat. Once he was done, he crinkled his nose a bit in what seemed to be disgust.

"Ugh, what is that awful stench?" he asked disgustedly as he snorted out a bit in an attempt to prevent whatever he was smelling from going into his nose. "It smells just the way my grandfather used to whenever he went out to his no-good excuse of a farm to tend to his stupid animals. I hated that scent!"

"Well, _excuse_ us for us being a couple of people who tend to be around animals a lot!" Daxter snarled out as he managed to wrestle free out of Jak's clamp over his mouth. "If you don't like the way we smell, then too bad for you! Why don't you just go and bug someone else if you think we smell bad?"

"Unfortunately, I have a job to attend to here, you obnoxious talking rat!" the man stated rather official-like despite choking on his words a bit. Apparently, the smell was too much for his sensitive nose and the two men beside him managed a stifle chuckle at this. It was also quite surprising that he did not seemed at all fazed at being addressed by a talking animal. "Whether I like it or not, I have to stay here to conduct my business. After all, you two are the reason why I'm even out here on the streets in the middle-class section of Haven City in the first place."

"_Sounds like you're having the time of your life,_" Jak said with a smirk on his face, causing the Ottsel still clamped tightly in his arms to laugh out loud a bit. "_What kind of guy like you doesn't even want to go out into the town he calls home anyway? Sounds pretty weird to me._"

"Have you got something to say to me, boy?" he inquired in a rather dark tone of voice, almost as though he was trying to threaten him. "I suggest you say it out loud rather than keep it within yourself. You wouldn't like if it I pulled the trigger on you under the pretense of you conspiring to attack the head of this city's security. I doubt you would like the thought of that.

"Oh, but where are my manners?" he continued on as he suddenly changed moods and sounded more polite. "Allow me to introduce myself to the both of you. My name is Errol. I'm the head of the security force called the Krimson Guard for this wondrous city that we call Haven City."

"_Hey Jak!_" the Ottsel breathed in sharply as he quickly whipped his head around to stare into the blonde's eyes, which seemed to be reflecting the same thing he was thinking. "_Did he just say 'Krimson Guard?' Do you think that's the KG old Loghead was warning us not to trust or something like that?_"

"_I don't know Dax,_" Jak stated as he used one eye to look at his buddy and the other trained on the self-acclaimed security leader standing in front of them. "_All I know for sure is that I already don't trust this guy. I don't like the way he's acting. It's almost as though he's got something planned up his sleeve._"

"I know," Daxter said out loud as he wriggled out of the loosened grip around him and took his place on the shoulder. "That's what it looks like to me, too. Too be quite honest with you," he added in a soft whisper, "I don't like the way that guy smells, either. He smells like a power-hungry guy, if you ask me."

"What are you two whispering on about?" Errol asked as he raised a suspicious eyebrow at the two. "This behavior you're exuding is most suspicious. Taken into account that one of our men said that they saw you coming out from some kind of mysterious light source, I find the both of you to be bad news for this city. I hereby place you two under arrest under the Haven City law."

"Under arrest?" the animal all but shouted out as he started to jump up and down a bit in a childish way. "You can't place us under arrest here! We just got here not even ten minutes ago. We haven't even had the chance to do anything that you could possibly consider wrong yet."

"On the contrary, my dear rat," the man stated calmly with a disturbing smile on his face. "I have every right to be arresting you right now. You said that you have just arrived here, right? Then allow me to enlighten you on the laws that surround this wonderful city, _traitors_!"

"_What did you call us?_" Jak exclaimed with a look of disbelief on his face; Daxter also had one on, as well. "_Did you really just call the both of us traitors? How can we even be that if we only just arrived in your city? That doesn't even make any sense!_"

"I assure you, you heard right, my dear boy. Under the law of Haven City, I have the right to arrest you under the suspicion of plotting to take over the throne. After all, why else would the two of you be whispering into each others' ears so secretively? I find it especially interesting that you play the silent man while your pet does all the talking. It all adds more to the flames of my suspicions. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were asked to come here by the Resistance. Ever the tenacious bunch; they just never know when to give up."

"And just who are these Resistance people you're talking about?" Daxter asked as he started to get visibly bored with this whole session. "We honestly have no idea on what you're talking about here. And just what is it with you about Jak being quiet and me being loud? I don't see anything wrong about it. All of our friends back from where we come from don't think anything weird about it."

"And where is it that you all came from?" Errol asked with extreme interest lacing his voice. "I find it rather interesting that there's life beyond our walls. Tell me; did you two hail from a land beyond the ruins of a city long since dead? Or is it beyond a desert so long and dry that even Hell itself could not compare?"

"How the hell should we know buddy?" the Ottsel asked back in a cocky fashion. "We don't know of any desert near where we come from. And unless you're talking about some ancient Precursor ruins or other crap like that, then we don't know of any ruined cities near us either."

"Don't play dumb with me," he threatened as he pulled his gun out of his leg holster and aimed it at the animal. "I don't like it when people try to play around with me and not answer my questions. Don't forget that either me or my men can shoot you dead for your incompetent behavior."

"…Eep!" the animal squeaked as he took cover behind Jak's head, much to the teen's protest. "Uh, maybe I was acting just a bit out of line for a moment there. We're just kind of…confused right now and not thinking straight! Yeah, that's it! We're all just totally confused here."

"Making up excuses to try and save yourself won't help you here," the commander continued with his threatening tone as he cocked his gun; the two armored men beside him did the same. "Now then, let's get back to business here. You two are hereby under arrest under the suspicion of plotting against the throne and siding with the local rebels. You can either come along with us quietly or we'll do this the hard way.

"_You're going to kill us no matter what we decide to do,_" Jak snarled out at the man in front of him. "_What's the point in letting us choose what we want to do when you can just kill us right here on the spot? Not that I want to go dying anytime soon, mind you._"

"I know just what you're thinking, boy. I prefer not to gun you down here on the streets. For one, it's way too messy for my tastes. Secondly, I feel that you might hold some crucial information regarding the Resistance. Therefore, I find it in my best interests that you two are alive. If you so much as try to attack one of us here, none of us will hesitate to pull the trigger! Now stop stalling and come with us. I feel that we're going to have some fun times together…in the interrogation room!"

"_We're making a run for it, Dax!_" the Ottsel suddenly sensed Jak saying to him from his perch behind his head. It was so sudden; he barely even registered the words being conveyed to him as the guards started to approach them. "_Better hold on tight lest you want to be left behind here._"

Once he felt a pair of furry hands holding tightly onto his hair, the teen took in a deep breath. At the same moment he let it out, he made a dash out towards the left of the two soldiers approaching them. Unfortunately, the effort to run was in vain. He managed to dodge a strike from the one on his right, but he took a very hard hit on the head from the second one by the butt of the heavy gun he was holding. He then fell towards the ground face first and was motionless.

"Whoa!" Daxter yelled out as the impact he felt from the strike in combination with the sudden drop caused him to lose his grip and fly forward past the three men. He then landed a few feet away from them on his side and had a clear view at what had happened.

Jak had taken a hard blow to the head. Trace amounts of blood were seen on his head and darkening his blond hair. If it were not for the fact that he was struggling to get up off the ground, Daxter would have thought he was dead. After all, who would not have thought that when they see their best bud bleeding from the head?

"_Run…Dax!_" the injured teen commanded as best as he could with his pain-filled eyes before he broke contact with them and fell onto the floor once again, the three men beside him just simply watching him suffer. "_Just get out of here! Don't worry…about me!_"

"J-Jak…!" the Ottsel gasped out as he quickly debated in his mind what he was going to do. After a second, he made up his mind and turned his back from the group, taking the blonde's advice and making a run for it. "Don't worry, buddy!" he shouted out behind him as he ran. "I'll save you in a jiffy!"

"_Don't get yourself…killed doing that, Dax,_" he swore he felt Jak tell him. However, he was not so sure on it as he was mainly concentrating on trying to get out of there before Errol and his men caught and killed him on the spot.

"What do you want us to do with the runaway rat, commander?" one of the guards inquired as the other picked up the barely conscious Jak and propped him over his shoulders as if he were only a simple rag doll. "Do you want us to give chase and dispose of it?"

"No; leave it be," Errol instructed as he put his gun away and looked at Jak with amusement. "He may prove useful to us if he runs. Think about it; if he's going to run to the Resistance and ask them for help, then that'll be our chance to strike back at them. No doubt that they'll probably send in some of their men to rescue him.

I'm surprised, though, that he actually chose to try and run from us instead of giving up like so many others tend to do," he added as he gave a twisted smile, one that Jak could barely see in his condition. "If he does not wish to tell us the whereabouts of the Resistance, then maybe he could serve some use to us as one of our warriors. After all, we need more men to fight back against the Metal Heads, and we're still looking for suitable candidates for our little experiments."

"Do you wish for us to take him straight to the prison then, sir?" the second guard asked as he cleaned off the blood off of his gun and propped it back into his arms. "Or do you have other arrangements in mind for him?"

"No; straight to the prison with him. Make sure he doesn't resist too much once he regains his senses. And make sure you keep an eye open for any members of the Resistance. Now, I trust that you two can handle this simple task I've beset before you? I would if I could accompany you and make sure you don't mess up, but I have an urgent meeting to attend to with the Baron," he stated as he pulled out a small machine from his pocket and looked at it briefly before putting it back.

"We'll make sure everything goes as planned with this one, commander," the first guard stated with confidence accompanied with a salute. "We won't mess up like the other guards in the other sectors of this town tend to do."

"Well, see to it that you don't," the commander said as he started to walk away to wherever it was he was needed next. "If you mess this up, don't even dare think about coming back lest you want to face punishment in the dungeons for incompetence. Now hurry and go!"

"Yes, sir!" both men saluted before making their way to the prison.

"Humph," Errol snorted out as he turned around to watch the men take Jak away. "The rodent said your name was Jak before he ran off, huh? Well Jak, you certainly have a lot of guts to try and run away from us while we have you cornered. You'll most definitely be the perfect candidate for the Dark Eco project. I don't care if you don't want to talk; I have ways of making you do so. Until then, though, enjoy the last few hours of your humanity and life!"

With those grim words said, he continued on down the road and towards wherever it was he was going for his meeting. As he got further down the road, he was so immersed in his own thoughts at this point that he failed to see an orange blur running under the cover of the shadows of the buildings and towards the direction where the two guards were taking Jak.


	5. The Hero Within The Ottsel

**Chapter 5: The Hero Within The Ottsel  
**

"Gotta run, gotta run, gotta run!" Daxter repeated vocally as he ran as fast as his skinny Ottsel legs could go. Considering that he was using all four of them right now to run, that was pretty fast. "I can't let those guys catch me or I'll be on their menu and become a roast Ottsel for dinner! Oh god; I pray to the Precursors they're not actually following me!"

After running like a complete maniac for a good minute or so, he gained the attention of so many people he passed by and the loud screams of fright from the women who thought he was a big orange rat. It was only when he reached the safety of a dark alleyway did he stop and leaned against a cold metal wall to catch his breath. He was panting heavily and used the coolness from the metal to help cool himself down a bit. The combination of his running and fear of being killed caused his fur to be partially soaked in sweat.

"_Whew, I should be safe for now,_" he thought between many heavy pants of air as he sniffled a bit to prevent his runny nose from dripping. "_Those guys are totally crazy! Who the hell do they think they are, cornering us like we were common street animals and putting us under arrest for no good reason? And they call themselves the protectors of this city._"

It was then that he remembered through his panic-clouded mind about what had caused him to start running like crazy; it was because of Jak commanding him to do so. It was the sight of him steadily losing consciousness due to a hard hit on the head that it caused him to bleed that caused him to act in the way he did. It was the desperate look he gave him that caused him to follow the order without question; he could not stand to see his best buddy looking so weak and pathetic under the powers of an unknown enemy that had easily taken him down. He also could not help refusing the pitiful look he was given, especially while he was busy panicking over the three crazy people and seeing the blond injured.

"_Wh-what have I done?_" he gasped out as he quickly wiped his forehead a bit in an attempt to keep the fur from sticking out at odd angles. "_I just…, I just abandoned Jak back there with those crazy people! How could I have done that? Yeah, he told me to get out of there, but I didn't actually think that I would have actually listened to him. Oh god, I just left him there to die! What kind of a friend am I?_"

For about a minute, Daxter was slumped against the metal wall and sulking in his own guilt at what he did. He never meant to just leave Jak in the hands of three guys who looked like they would kill him without a moment's hesitation. It all happened so quickly that he did not have any time to let his mind think on it before his legs started to move all on their own and away from the scene.

Many people who knew the Ottsel knew that he did not like to get himself tangled into any kind of dangerous situations where he could be seriously hurt or die. It was because of this behavior that many, with the exception of his best friends Keira and Jak, and maybe Samos if you looked really carefully, define to be cowardly that people thought of him as one. This, however, was a serious misconception on their part. The only reason they say that was because they only saw this attitude skin-deep; they did not look any further in than that. If they could only see past the outer layer, only recognize the things he did after he shoved aside his numerous complaints, they would be able to see the true Daxter within.

Despite his many complaints about going on potentially deadly missions and making himself out to be a coward to others with it, he was anything but that. Deep down, he was a pretty courageous person…err, Ottsel, although not in the context that people usually define a hero as. Many tend to see heroes as people who would willingly risk their lives for others without holding into account their own, a person who does gracious acts of kindness without question or expecting anything in return. These were definitely traits that Daxter did not have; he always complained about every mission and always expected to get something in return for committing to life-threatening acts. He was still, however, a real and genuine hero.

Even with these borderline childish complaints that came fresh out of his mouth and the countless requests for rewards that sometimes never come to be, he still went on the dangerous escapades, especially whenever Jak was the one who was going on one. No matter how many times he complains and how hard he fights against going, he always ends up resting on the blonde's shoulder, literally, and providing him support, be it physically or vocally. He always stood by his buddy in any situation, whether as a faithful sidekick or being the one to take center stage, which was quite a rare occasion, mind you. Not once had he ever refused to go with Jak on any kind of mission, if anyone even bothered to take note of it, that is.

Deep down within him, beyond the façade of his words that created the image of a coward on the outside laid the burning spirit of a hero who would rather be hidden within the deepest reaches of its owner where only the most trusted of people could find. He knew it was there; Jak knew it was there; Keira and Samos knew it was there, although the old man tended to not believe in that unless circumstances were extremely dire. It was only those who only knew him as another person that you would pass by on the street, which was practically everybody when you think in terms of Sandover, did not know of it. It was people like that who saw the small Ottsel once human as nothing but a big coward at heart.

With all of these thoughts, both random and deliberate, raging though his mind at a million miles per second, he managed to pull himself together and started to collect the scattered remnants of his mind. He knew that if he had time to mope around in his own guilt and shame, he had time to do something about it and fix things up. All he had to do was concentrate on the positive things he thought of, primarily the ones that he thought about the inner hero within and all that wondrous crap, and keep his confidence up long enough to fix the problem that was on his hands.

The only question that hovered around in his mind now was on how he was going to make things right. The hero within him may have existed, but that did not mean that it was always ready to emerge from the deepest caverns of his heart. It was not going to come out of whatever room it locked itself in and start taking things over. No, this was one of those moments where it felt comfortable hiding away and taking a break while his cowardly side took things by the reigns.

"_Oh, great grace of the Precursors!_" Daxter thought agitatedly as he quickly shuffled through his mind the things that he could do now. "_Trying to be all brave and stuff in the face of danger is so much easier when Jak's right next to me. Just how the heck am I going to help get him out of this mess? I guess I can start by trying to figure out where the guys are taking him and work from there._

"_Alright Dax; it's time that you pulled yourself together and help out your buddy,_" he thought as he took a deep breath and tried to give himself a pep talk to boost his confidence. "_You can do this. You can get him out of this mess. All you have to do is take care of three guys that are bigger than him and definitely bigger than you while making sure that they don't hit or shoot you with those humongous guns of theirs. That sounds simple enough to do._

"_Oh great idiocy of the Precursors; who am I trying to kid here?_" he whimpered out like an injured animal as he bit his lower lip which had started to quiver rather violently out of fear. "_There's just no way I can take on three huge people while making sure that Jak doesn't get away from me at the same time. That's totally impossible for someone like me to do! I'm probably going to just end up botching this rescue mission and getting the both of us killed._"

With one last audible groan escaping his still quivering lips, Daxter finally made up his mind on what he was going to do. After swallowing down his fears, which was a very hard to swallow and keep down, he dashed out from the covers of the dark alleyway and headed back towards where he last remembered Jak and the three guys to be at. He kept his body as close to the buildings as possible in order to seek the protection of the shade in case those guys happened to be coming his way.

Well, he was half-right on that. About a few seconds after he left the protection of his hiding spot, he saw Errol walking down the path from where he left Jak without the blond or the other two buff guys with him. Noticing that he seemed to be a bit preoccupied over something, the Ottsel just kept to the shadows and dashed right on by, hoping that he would not be noticed. Thankfully, he was not by both the man and the people around him he ran past.

"_Old mighty wannabe idiot bully must have had his two big equally stupid brutes take Jak somewhere else,_" Daxter thought as he continued to run back towards the scene, trying his best to keep his fears and worries from totally taking over his system. "_I better hurry and catch up with them before they end up getting too far away or to wherever it is they're planning to take him. If I lose track of them now, I don't think I'll have another chance like this. I gotta hurry!_"

A few more seconds later, he managed to arrive at the spot where he left Jak at the hands of potential torture. To his horror, he saw none of them anywhere nearby. Of course, he was kind of expecting that to happen, but he was still holding on to hope that they were for some reason lagging and would give him time to catch up. He was not expecting the fact that he came back just a few seconds too late would have hurt so much. So much for trying to keep his mind steady with false hope…

That feeling of dread and hopelessness, though, was very short-lived, much to Daxter's great relief. Before he had completely allowed himself to be immersed in sorrow at losing his best friend, he figured that he would try to at least take a quick scan of the area before admitting defeat. He was lucky that he did so because a few yards away from him next to a turn in the street, he spotted a pair of brilliant red armor about to make the very turn. Covered well by the brilliance of the bright color, yet not outdone by a long shot, was the blond tuft of hair that belonged to none other than Jak. It quickly disappeared, though, as the two armored men turned the corner and out of the little Ottsel's line of view.

"Jak!" he exclaimed as he started to run towards the corner with renewed hope flooding through his veins and empowering him to do whatever was necessary to get his best buddy out of trouble, ignoring the strange looks he got from the depressed-looking passersby. "Don't you worry, big guy! I'll be there to get you out of there in a jiffy. Just hold tight for a little while longer!"

With speed that he never knew he had without the aid of Blue Eco, Daxter made it to the corner within a matter of seconds. For him, though, it felt a lot more like a few minutes of pure torture just to get there. Once he turned to the new portion of street, he saw the two red armored men a few feet ahead walking side-by-side. One of them had his gun holstered over his back and was carrying Jak over his shoulder in a way that looked like he was only carrying a backpack. The other guard had his gun in his hand and was keeping his attention of their surroundings, making sure that nothing tried to attack them while they were transporting their prisoner. Being ever so cautious, he started to approach them and tried to figure out how he was going to play his cards, however bad they were right now.

"…kid just won't talk," he heard one of the guards say to the other. He could not tell who it was because both of their mouths were covered by their helmets, as well as their entire face. "He didn't say a thing the whole time we had him surrounded. Not one single word out of his mouth. I wonder if the poor kid was just born that way, not being able to say anything. I definitely wouldn't be surprised if that talking orange rat that was with him served as his interpreter."

"That's what I was wagering on myself," the second guard replied as he turned his head towards the watchful guard. At least it was now clear to the Ottsel who was speaking now. "He must have came here with him so he could serve as the kid's voice. It's too bad that Commander Errol thought otherwise. I'm all for taking in people who I find to be conducting in suspicious activity and might be in league with the Resistance, but I sometimes thinks that he takes things a little bit too far. He was extremely adamant in thinking that this guy wasn't a mute. I'm telling you; once he gets something in his mind, there's no use arguing to him about it."

"You can say that again," the scanner agreed as he stole a glance at his partner before going back to his ever vigilant mode. "Just make sure that the commander isn't around us the next time you say something about him like that. You know that he could easily send us to the palace prisons for talking down on him like that. Don't forget that he also has great timing and tends to pop out of nowhere when you least expect him to be around."

"Oh, you worry about him too much," the transporter stated with annoyance clear in his voice. "Just relax a bit and enjoy your life while you still can. You'll never know when those blasted Metal Heads outside these city walls might end up taking this place over. They could do it tomorrow; they could do it a few years from now. We don't know, and I prefer to live my life out as best as I can.

"If you do want to worry about something, though," he continued on as Daxter continued to follow them unnoticed, "then I suggest that you start worrying about this boy that's on my shoulders. I'm afraid that I might have hit him on the head with my gun a little bit too hard. He's barely conscious and he hardly responds to any of the sudden movements I make."

"Oh, that's one thing I'm not going to worry about." The Ottsel suddenly had an idea pop into his head and felt a small grin slowly grow on his face. "Once we get him to the palace prison, we can get one of the prison doctors to come and check up on him. I doubt that it's anything serious, though, what with him still being conscious and all that right now."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Daxter quickly climbed onto a light post a few yards ahead of the two guards and next to a turn that they would have to take, making sure to not be spotted by them in the process. They were too engrossed in their conversation; they did not even notice him passing by. Jak, however, did and started to feel both joy and apprehension at seeing his small friend doing whatever it was he had in mind.

"_You're going to be alright, big guy,_" he felt the Ottsel's response radiating towards him with a strength he had rarely ever felt before. He knew that the animal was committed to do whatever it was he was going to do, and he was definitely willing to do it without any hassle whatsoever. "_I'm going to get you out of this mess. And don't you dare tell me to get out of here! I'm not going anywhere without you! Don't worry about me; I got this all figured out._"

Jak did not argue with him; he did not feel like doing it with the big headache he was feeling right now. Even if he did feel up to it, he knew better than to argue with the Ottsel on this. For one, he was actually trying to rescue him, a clear reversal of their roles was evident here. He could not possibly argue with the fact that he was going to be saved. Secondly, he recognized the energy he was radiating, even though he only felt it on a couple of occasions. He knew that when he was like this, there was no talking him out of it; no amount of good old-fashion Jak-talk was going to make him back out from what he had in mind. So he just forced his mind to relax and hoped that whatever Daxter had going on in his mind was going to work.

"So what are you planning on doing once we dump this kid in the prison?" the scanning guard asked as he kept looking at every person that passed by them, causing them to back away in fear. He failed to notice Daxter on top of the light post, waiting like a patient cat for his chance to strike. "You going to be doing your usual thing or go take a load off at the harbor bar?"

"I'll probably go down to the harbor bar for a quick drink or two," the other guard replied as he seemed to purposely jostle Jak around a bit, causing a small whimper of pain to come from the teen. The Ottsel scrunched his face up in concentration and got ready to make his move. "My shift's over once I'm done with this. I definitely need a drink after what I went through this morning. That in combination with this can really wear a Krimson Guard like myself down."

"You wouldn't mind if I came and joined you for a drink, would you? I'm supposed to work the night shift after this, but I've worked all day already. I'm thinking of just disappearing for the night. What better place to hide away at then at the bar, right? You don't mind, do you?"

"Well, as long as you don't cause any kind of trouble for me, what the commander doesn't know won't hurt. Then again, aren't you higher up on the chain of command than I am? Why are you asking someone lower than you in status when you can practically join them for a nighttime drink without asking?"

"Ugh, the last time I checked, you were a human. As humans, some of us prefer to have a bit of privacy when they go to a bar. That's why I asked if I could join you. I didn't want to act like an idiot and just intrude on your private time. Unlike other Krimson Guards, I have a heart resting behind this thick red armor of mine. Does that answer your question?"

"Uh, I guess it does. Alright then; let's hurry up and get to the prison so we can finish this job. The sooner we get there and dump this load on my shoulders there, the sooner we'll be done. That's when we can sneak down to the harbor and enjoy a nice cold glass of… Ahh!"

Living up to his self-appointed nickname, Daxter jumped off from his perch on top of the light post and came down upon the guard that was carrying Jak like an orange streak of lightning. He landed right on the helmet portion; more specifically, he landed right on the visor, thus effectively cutting off the man's vision and forcing him to stumble backwards out of total surprise.

"What the Hell?" the guard shrieked as he started to move around wildly and started to paw at his face. In the process, he did not notice that he had accidentally dropped the teen onto the floor. His sudden movements also caused the gun that was holstered onto his back to fall to the ground with a clank. "Wh-what is this thing? This damn thing's blocking out my entire view! Hurry up and get it off my face before I get killed by something!"

"What is it?" the scanner exclaimed as he approached his distressed partner more cautiously than the last time he did so. "You got to calm down a bit before I can do anything! You're a member of the Krimson Guard, for god's sake. Start acting like one! Stop flailing your arms around like a wounded animal! Just stay still and let me see what's going… Oww!"

The Krimson Guard that Daxter was currently on top of started to swing his arms around in a panic. Apparently, the furry creature was covering the entirety of his visor and he could not see a single thing. So he did the next best thing he could think of and started to swing his arms around like crazy. He probably had it in his mind that the person that had attacked him was about his height and about a foot away from him. Boy, was he sorely mistaken. His wild arms accidentally made contact with his partner and he was sent down towards the ground in pain.

"Get it off me, get it off me, get it off me!" the guard shouted out in a complete panic, causing all the people that were passing by to stop what they were doing and take a look at the big scene he was causing with great amusement. "I can't see a damn thing! Get it off of me!"

"Relax, damn it!" the scanner shouted as he got off from the floor and attempted to calm his partner down. "Oh, for the sake of all the holy Precursors, stop acting like a damn hyper child! I can't help you in any way if you keep on acting this wild on me. Now calm down and… Yeouch!"

Once again, the panicky Krimson Guard struck the other one by mistake and he was once again sent towards the floor. Daxter was trying his best to keep his grip on the helmet so as to not be sent flying away by the wild movements and trying to keep quiet at the same time. The last thing he needed right now was to be identified as Jak's buddy and have more trouble on his tail.

While all this chaos was ensuing, Jak, who was conscious enough to know what was going on here, proceeded to pick himself off from the ground. He was still a bit dazed due to the hit on his head, but he was otherwise well enough to move around without any problems. Keeping as low to the ground as possible to avoid any unwanted attention, the blond headed straight for a section of the crowd in hopes of disappearing within its denseness before his two preoccupied captors had a chance to notice that he was no longer there with them.

Just as he was about to reach a section of the crowd, he saw a small canister filled with something rolling towards him. Curious as to what it was, he picked it up into his hands and placed it into his pocket pants pocket. He guessed that it must have fell out of the flailing Krimson Guard's armor just now because nobody else seemed to have noticed that they lost something.

As the seconds of the entire scene ticked on, the crowd started to grow bigger and bigger. It soon grew so big; it was more than enough coverage for the injured teen to hide in, whether or not his head was clear enough to think strategically. His head was still hurting, but he knew that now was a time to try and get out of here while he still had the chance to do so.

"Stop going wild and calm down!" the scanner shouted as loudly as he could in order to get through to his partner. It was all in vain, though, and the next thing he noticed was his gun, which had been in his hands the entire time, being knocked out of his hands and hitting an innocent bystander in the face. "You're going to get the both of us killed if you keep on acting crazy like this! Just stop flailing around for one damn moment and I'll… Ow! Damn it, I said to…! Yeouch!"

The poor scanner had the worst of luck right now. He just kept being at the receiving end of his partner's wild movements and punches. However, the other punches were only one-hit throws. This time, though, it was punch after punch after punch. The guard that Daxter was still hanging around on was really starting to freak out at being blind for so long. He just started to pummel at whatever he could get his hands on, which was unfortunately his own partner.

"Well, looks like my job here's done," the Ottsel stated proudly once he saw Jak walk though the crowd and disappear through it. He then quickly jumped off of the guard's head and onto the metal ground. With another smug look at the still struggling man and his partner in relative pain, he said, "These guys are definitely going to have the time of their lives trying to get this all sorted out. Anyway, it's time that I left and catch up with Jak before I lose him again."

And with that, Daxter scampered along the ground on all fours and disappeared into the thick crowd, much to the amazement of the men that saw it and the frightened screams of the women who thought he was a humongous rat. He left the two Krimson Guards behind to settle whatever major argument he was sure was going to occur a few seconds later.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" the scanner shouted so loudly; his voice was probably heard in all directions for a pretty good distance. It was loud enough to make everything around them stop; it was almost as though time itself had stopped with that very outburst. Except for the roar of the Zoomers that were still flying around above their heads, nobody nearby made a single move or noise.

"I've had it up to here with your ridiculous behavior befitting of insanity!" he exclaimed as he brought one of his hands up to his head as an indicator of his diminished patience. "If you dare to try and hit me just one more time, I swear I'm going to seriously reprimand you so harshly that you will be wishing that Commander Errol was the one giving out the punishment to you!"

"Wh-what?" the berserk guard asked as he stopped his arm in the air mid-strike and stared at his partner in a stupid fashion. He then managed to regain his composure and brought his hand down as he visibly recoiled out of fright. "Wh-what did you say about Commander Errol? And what in the world are you doing sprawled out on the ground?"

"Take a wild guess, why don't you?" the guard on the ground spat out venomously as he got up onto his feet. "I wasn't down there because I felt like it. You were going nuts on me and started punching me like I was one of the Resistance people. Honestly, what in the world were you thinking?"

"Uh, did I really do that to you?" he asked in a soft tone, not daring to speak in any other way in front of his clearly very angry partner. "Eh heh, my bad there. Uh, Sorry about that. I didn't mean to hit you. I was just panicking when I couldn't see anything for a long while."

"I can see that. I can also see that whatever was causing you to go nuts has already ran away. Because you've been acting crazy this whole time, I never had a chance to see what was attacking you. Now we don't know if it was some kind of weapon from the Resistance or if it was just a random thing."

"Look, I already said that I was sorry. Can we just give it a rest now? And you people!" he addressed the crowd that was still gathered around the two. "Get out of here! There's nothing to see here. Aren't there other things that you could be doing besides staring at us like we're a couple of crazy people?"

With those harsh words barked out of his mouth, all the people immediately started to move away. It was clear that everybody in the part of town, if not the entire city, were afraid of the Krimson Guard. They were quick to respond to the once berserk guard's demands and dispersed.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they thought everybody in the Krimson Guard was crazy because of this," the scanner stated, his voice still holding the bitter tone from earlier. "I can't believe you managed to make a fool of not only yourself but of me, as well. I thought I taught you to not panic under any circumstances. Has that not penetrated your thick skull yet?"

"Look, I just forgot about it, okay?" the other guard replied, his voice clearly stating that he no longer wanted to talk about it. "Can we just forget about this whole thing already? Let's just hurry up and get the damn kid to the prison and be done with this blasted assignment."

Without waiting to hear a response, the guard abruptly turned around and started to look for Jak, whom he knew was lying somewhere on the floor. The only problem with this picture was that the blond had already been gone for a few minutes now; they had only just realized this after they spent a few seconds looking for him and not seeing him anywhere. They looked as hard as they could; each second that passed by raised more tension between them.

"We really didn't just lose a near unconscious boy, did we?" the scanner asked as his mouth dropped open in disbelief. "How the hell could he have moved that fast with an injury to the head like that on him? That's just almost impossible unless somebody helped him to escape."

"You don't think that it was one of the people from the Resistance, do you?" the other guard asked as he gave up the search for the teen and started to worry. "You don't think that they set up that distraction for us and took him away while we were busy trying to get ourselves back to normal, do you?"

"That's the only thing I can come up with. Oh boy, are we in a lot of trouble now. Once Commander Errol figures out that we lost the teen, he'll definitely have our heads on a silver platter. There's no way we're going to be able to talk our way out of this one, especially since we said that we would be able to easily do this."

"Oh, we really screwed up big-time here," the guard that once carried Jak on his shoulders groaned as he slapped his forehead. "I just hope that the kid wasn't an important part to the experiment the commander was talking about. Otherwise, we'll really be dead when he figures out we lost him."


	6. Jak the Mute Becomes Just Jak

**Chapter 6: Jak the Mute Becomes Just Jak**

After maneuvering through the many confusing streets of this strange city for about a minute or so, Jak and Daxter finally stopped in an alleyway that was relatively well hidden from view. The Ottsel, who had been taking a well deserved ride on the blonde's left shoulder ever since they left the scene he had created with the two Krimson Guards, jumped off from his perch. He then sat down on the cold metal ground right next to the teen who had done the same thing and planted his back up against the cold metal wall. Unfortunately, he chose a spot that was right next to where the blond had decided to let his slightly bloodied hand rest, but he was too mentally exhausted to really move to another spot or even care for that matter.

"It think we managed to lose those dumb guys," the small animal said with a sigh of relief after he stole a glance out at the street. "I still can't believe that they couldn't even handle me, a simple little animal that could be easily killed by them, without having one of them start freaking out like crazy. At least everything ended up falling into my plans. Uh, most of it, at least. I don't want to go through something like that again. I seriously could have been killed there; although, I did think that it was kind of fun," he added with a small smile.

All Jak gave out as a response was a stare and a raised eyebrow at the small Ottsel accompanied by a small wince of pain. He then shook his head a bit before he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the canister he picked up just before he made his escape. He gave it a small shake to listen to what was inside it before opening it up. Once opened, a dull greenish glow came out from the can and reflected against his face. Inside was a substance that looked like the consistency of fog, yet it also appeared to have a form solid enough that one could easily pick it up.

"Hey, isn't that Green Eco you got there in the can?" Daxter asked as he took a look at what the blond was looking at. He then took a small pinch of it in his hands and rubbed it on a small red scratch he just happened to notice. He rubbed the small amount on it and it instantly healed itself up. "I guess that answers my question. What are you doing with a can of it in your hands? More importantly, when did you find the time to actually get a hold of some?"

Without answering the question, the teen shoved the can right into the Ottsel's hands, indicating that he wanted him to help administer the Green Eco and take care of his wound. Understanding the message word for word, the small animal happily took the object into his small furry hands and climbed back onto the blonde's shoulder so he could get a better view at where on the head his wound was and how much of the Eco he would need to use.

"Boy, you sure took a nasty blow to the head there," he stated with a wince once he found the bloody spot hidden within thick strands of hair. "It definitely wasn't an innocent little bump that brute gave you. That wound's blood red and is still pumping out a bit of blood. This is one of those times where I'll say that you got really, really lucky there, big guy.

"Now stay still for a moment while I work on this," he continued on as he dipped his hand into the Green Eco can and took out a small handful of the cloud-like stuff. "I still can't believe those stupid Krimson butt-heads actually gone and did this to you. Boy, I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up stinging a bit, so just try and suck it up like you normally do.

"Don't think I never noticed whenever you got yourself badly hurt before," he added in a slight chiding tone when he saw the look of surprise come around to Jak's face. "You did a good job of hiding the pain of your injuries, but I've been with you long enough to know when you're just trying to play the tough guy. I know that you didn't want me to worry about you when you did that, but you don't have to go playing the tough guy every time you're injured. I don't really like it when you hide things like that from me that could potentially get you killed, just like how you hate it when I start fooling around at the worst of times. The last thing I need right now is for you to go down because of a wound becoming infected."

As Daxter was administering the first aid with soft and caring hands that were almost befitting for a mother, he thought he saw a slight dusting of red come across the Jak's cheeks. Whether it was from embarrassment at how he stated the truth or on how he was sounding like a mother, he did not know. It soon disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, though, and his cheeks had returned back to their normal tan color as if the emotion never appeared before. Unfortunately for the blond, his eyes easily gave away the embarrassed emotion he was trying so hard to hide from the Ottsel. Unless he tried very, very hard, his eyes always gave away whatever feeling it was that his heart was trying to project.

After a couple minutes of smearing the Eco on the head wound and watching it get absorbed through the skin, thus sealing up the injury in the process, the small animal jumped off from the teen's shoulder and placed the can on the ground. He then looked up at his buddy in the eyes and was admiring his great healing job. The only thing he was not happy with was the red blood that was messing up with the color of the blond hair, but there was nothing that they could do about it until they were able to find some water and wash it out. Oh well, at least the main problem was taken care of, and that was all that mattered right now.

"There you go, big guy; that head of yours is as patched up as I'm able to get it to be," Daxter stated with a big smile on his lips as he folded his arms in front of him in a triumphant gesture. "At least the blood that's still on your hair is the only thing that shows you were actually bleeding there before. Just make sure that you take a couple minutes to rest a bit before you start jumping around like you normally do and everything should be alright.

Geez, I feel like I'm acting like your mother here, fixing you up and telling you to not do crazy things until you're feeling all better," he added with a mock gagging face, bringing out a small smile from Jak. "After all the time you spent helping me out with whatever crap I was dealing with back in Sandover, I never thought that I'd be the one to be helping you like this. Now that I think about it a little bit, it's actually kind of weird in a funny sort of way. Talk about having a major switcheroo with each other in our roles here, right big guy?"

In the next couple of seconds that would soon pass by, Daxter would be getting a huge surprise; a very pleasant surprise, no doubt about it, but one he thought to have been completely impossible until this very surprising moment comes to pass. It would be something that he would have never thought possible in a million years. It would only be another few seconds after the initial shock that he would be able to let whatever was going to surprise him sink in and register with his mind.

"Th-thanks, Daxter," Jak said-yes, he _said_-to his little buddy, who only stared back in shock at what his ears, which were now standing straight up with surprise, just heard. Jak, his long-time buddy that he had known for only the Precursors would know how long, was actually talking to him. Not miming, not sending those messages with his body language, but actually speaking with his own mouth and voice, a crackly sounding one at that, too.

"Wha…? I, uh… Huh?" the Ottsel stuttered out, unable to form even a single coherent word. For the first time ever since the two have known each other and been together, he was completely speechless. He did not know what to say; to be more precise, he was not able to come up with anything to say about this period. All his mind could wrap around was the two words the blond had said to him; the first two words he had ever heard him say.

Even the teen, once he noticed what he had just did, seemed pretty surprised at this. For all his life, he was never able to form even a single word with his voice. At best, he was able to make subtle sounds that either lied along the lines of agreement or disapproval. It was enough to get his emotions across in combination with his body language, but not once could he ever say anything verbally about, well, anything. This was a first for him and a great surprise for him at that, too.

"D-Daxter?" Jak asked, his voice sounding slightly cracked, no doubt due to the fact that this was most likely the first time in his fifteen years of life since he was able to say any kind of coherent speech. "Wh-what did you mess around with while you were working on my head? Did you do something up there while you were healing me that you're not telling me about?"

"Wh-what was I messing around with?" Daxter exclaimed loudly, still clearly shocked at what he was hearing. It was a miracle that nobody that happened to be walking near the well hidden alleyway decided to stop what they were doing and peer inside to see what was all the commotion was about. "I promise you, I messed around with nothing up in that head of yours buddy! That wound didn't even go all the way through to your bones, so I couldn't have done anything in there. I don't know how you're able to talk now, but I can't believe it; I just can't believe you're actually talking right now! You're actually saying things that I can actually hear without having to watch you mime the whole thing and all that crap!"

"_So I noticed,_" the teen sighed out in a frustrated manner as he glared at the Ottsel. He then said with his new-found voice which was slowly starting to gain strength, "Are you sure you didn't mess with anything up there, buddy? I don't think that people who've been a mute for their entire lives can all of a sudden just gain the ability to talk at such a random time."

"Look, I don't know what happened up there to make you start talking all of a sudden," the animal said as he pointed to the blonde's head. "To be quite honest with you, I don't really care about how it happened. The point is that it happened and you're able to talk now. I don't know about you, but I really think that this is something that's totally cool," he added with a wide smile. "I've always wondered how things would be if you were able to talk, and I can now find out for myself. Oh, this is almost like a dream come true for me!" he finished off with a dreamy sigh escaping his lips, earning him a very strange look from the teen.

"Uh, I don't think now's the time to be getting all excited over this," Jak replied as his face suddenly changed to that of seriousness. "I admit, it's pretty good that I'm able to talk now, but we have more important things on our hands here. We don't even know if those Krimson Guard guys are trying to look for us or have already asked for some help from their friends. We could be in serious trouble right now until we can find somewhere safe to hide out besides here. We need to at least find some different clothes other than this if we don't want to get caught."

"_You_ need to find a different set of clothes, big guy," Daxter emphasized. "_I_, on the other hand, don't need them. In case you haven't noticed, I haven't worn even a single piece of clothing ever since I got turned into a nearly good-for-nothing Ottsel! I can't even wear a decent pair of pants right now because there aren't any my size out there. Yeah, I have fur to keep me warm, but I still prefer at least a nice pair of short jeans over this."

"Alright; I get it; just stop going on with your ranting," the blond urged the animal in a voice that seemed to be fully working now, revealing a voice that was not uncommon for a teen his age yet still held on to a small hint of immaturity and a slight undeveloped nature behind the words spoken with it. "You're going to get us caught if you continue on like that. That's really the last thing we need right now, to be found and possibly gunned down by the guards for resisting arrest and then escaping their clutches after already being apprehended by them."

"Then what do you suggest we do while those guys are out there probably looking for us? You said it yourself earlier that they're probably doing that. Unless you're planning on staying in this ever so wonderful alleyway, which you also said that you're not going to do, then I don't know how we're going to move out of this one. Our hand in this game of cards is…pretty bad right now."

"Yet we don't have much of a choice but to play along with it," Jak said with a stifled sigh as he looked out into the open streets of what they now know to be Haven City. "We'll just have to go with it and see if we're lucky or not. Besides, I'm sure you didn't have a good chance when you decided to try and rescue me, and look where that ended up bringing you."

"Well, that's because I had the advantage of being smaller than they were," Daxter explained as he quickly hopped onto the teen's shoulder, already knowing what he was going to do. "I figured that if I could just get ahead of them before I lost them, I could hope that they would pass my way and I'll be able to get the drop on them. Let's just say that I drew a lucky card there."

"And that's what we're going to be able to do," the blond explained as he left the protective shade of the alleyway and entered the exposed streets of the city where the less-than-happy people and the multiple Zoomers were plentiful and minding their business under the hazy sun. "Sure, they have the upper hand here since this is their city and they practically outnumber us two to who knows how much. But we have something that they probably don't have under circumstances like this; we have each other. As long as we stick together, nothing can take us down or stop us from getting to wherever it is that we need to get to. It's work for us when we were in Sandover trying to look for a way to fix you up, so it should work for us now while we're trying to dodge these Krimson Guards."

"…Geez, I never thought of it that way before," the Ottsel said after he thought about it for a second or so as the teen maneuvered through the crowd of people and tried to look as casual as possible while towing around a talking animal on his shoulder and with a patch of blood still on his head. "When you put it that way, it's pretty easy for me to see you being right on that. Now that you mention it, things have worked out for us whenever we were working together and all that stuff. So you're saying that us being with each other and working together is our lucky card out of this mess, right?"

"Now you're getting it. Sure, it may have been just luck that things turned out the way they did while we're together, but I doubt it happened that way every time. I'm sure that because we were working together, we always managed to finish what we started and get out of messy situations. Trust me; even while you're screaming in my ear about how dangerous whatever we're doing is and I'm trying to concentrate on how to do it right, I take your concerns to heart and try to be real careful, even if it doesn't really look like that sometimes."

"Uh, try all the time big guy. The way you try to knock the living daylights out of the Lurkers we find and how you tend to stand so dangerously close to the edge of a cliff or lava pit doesn't really show me that you were trying to be careful. If I didn't know you as well as I did all this time, I would have thought that you had a death wish or something like that."

"But you trusted me enough to stick around with me while I did all those crazy things. And here's another thing that you probably already know, but I want to make sure and tell you right now. No matter how hectic the moment is or how busy I am in a battle, I always make sure that nothing bad happens to you. Even if I sometimes act a bit careless, I always try to make sure that you're alright in case the worst happens."

"Hey, stop talking like that Jak!" Daxter said with a slight groan as he shuddered a bit. "Saying things like that can be a real jinx against us, you know that? You say it now without meaning it, and the next thing you know, it's going to end up happening. I don't want the worst to happen anytime soon, thank you very much."

"Oh, you ought to relax a bit, Dax," Jak said with a playful tone lacing his words as he patted the Ottsel's head comfortingly. "Nothing bad is going to be happening to you or me anytime soon. We just need to look out for each other like we have been all this time and everything will turn out alright."

For a moment, the animal stood quiet as he felt the teen's slightly rough hand ruffling the fur on his head. He enjoyed having that happen to him because it helped him to relax a lot whenever he needed it. He soon ducked out of it, though, and made his way to the other shoulder.

"You just called me 'Dax,' didn't you?" the Ottsel asked as he felt a smile start to come across his lips, liking how natural it sounded, even with it being the first time he heard the shortened version of his name being said. "You never used a nickname for me before, have you?"

"Actually, I have been calling you that for the past few years that we've known each other now," the blond explained without looking at his buddy who was on his other shoulder. "I've been using it whenever I had to say your name. I guess it was pretty hard to notice, though, since both practically use the same emotion to portray. You don't mind if I start calling you 'Dax,' do you?"

"…Are you kidding me?" the small creature asked as he felt his smile grow even bigger. "I love it! I like how it just flows off your tongue without having the slight roughness of the last syllable messing things up. It sounds a whole lot more natural that way."

"Alright, then Dax it is from here on out. Now let's hurry up and find some place to stay before any more Krimson Guards find us wandering around here and try to take us in again for 'trying to plot against the throne." God, those guys are pretty dense when it comes to that. I'll be amazed if any of them are able to get any work done right around here."

At this comment, the two friends laughed lightly as they continued on down the streets of Haven City. They knew not of where they were headed or if there was even anyplace that they could call safe for the time being, but they knew that they were together right now, and that was all that mattered to them. Except for maybe another run-in with the Krimson Guards, nothing could really put a damper on their happy mood at this moment.


	7. At The Haven City Port

**Chapter 7: At The Haven City Port**

For the next few minutes that followed, Jak and Daxter continued to walk on down the cold and confusing metal streets of Haven City without a clear destination in mind. Even if they did have one, they would not have known how to get there because they knew nothing about this city and where anyplace was located. The only things that they did know about it as of now was that it was made out of a lot of metal and the supposed protectors of the city, the Krimson Guard, were a group that most of the citizens feared to some degree. It was apparent that they were a higher power among the social level, or at least the second-highest next to the Baron of Haven City, whoever the heck he even was. If the guards were people the citizens feared, the two could only imagine just how bad the baron might actually be.

The two, however, did not allow this somewhat disheartening information to dampen their spirits. They continued on down the road, dodging around a few people and ignoring the stares from others, as they talked to each other about where they thought they were and what did they think about it. They did not really talk of anything important; it was probably because they were both concentrating on trying to avoid any red armored men and find a safe place to hide out in the process. The talking was really just more of a way to pass the time and to some degree, pose as a reassurance that the other was still there with him. Even though they were practically a few inches away from each other, it helped them to feel like old times back at Sandover rather than feeling like they were in danger, which is what it was right now.

When they did talk to each other, they still mostly used their old-fashioned way of communication. Jak still projected what he wanted to say with his body language while Daxter read it with great ease. It was not that the blond was uncomfortable about forming words with his own newly acquired voice; he actually liked being able to speak without using full body language. It just felt more comfortable and comforting to him, and it was the same feeling for Daxter, as well. That and it was safer than talking out loud in a crowded area with people that they do not know who could either kill them or direct people to them who have the capability to do so. If they were going to risk their lives walking around in the open, then they rather silently talk to each other rather than attract any unwanted attention towards them, even though an animal on one's shoulder and a bloody patch of hair was already doing the job pretty well for them.

The pair soon came towards the end of the road that they have been following. Once there, they saw a wide open area in front of them that was in contrast to the narrow and suffocating streets they just escaped out of. This new area that they had stumbled upon looked a lot like a port of sorts with a couple of ships docked next to thin strips of metal beside them. Other vessels were also seen floating around and looking like they were half submerged in the dark blue water. There were also a few tall structures that looked to be lookout towers of sorts situated on top of platforms raised above the water and connected together with bridges at the base. Each one had a few black wires connecting to each structure and led back to the buildings in the area.

"Boy, this spot sure looks different from whatever part of this city we just came from," Daxter whistled out as he gazed at the new scenery. "A lot less metal all around us and a whole lot more open space, even if a little more than half of it is actually just water and what looks to be ships. Still, it's a nice change from always being surrounded by tall buildings that make the streets seem crowded."

"Oh, you can say that again, buddy," Jak agreed with his buddy as he, too, looked out at the harbor area. "This place does look like it's nicely protected, though. I mean, just look at the way that wall out there is surrounding this place," he added as he pointed to the tall gray structure that reached up high into the sky and snaked around the entire water portion of the port. Even the small corners where the walkway was present was sealed off, thus giving this spot a dead end feel to it. The only way out of the area for the ships was a gate at the center of the wall that was currently closed. "It almost looks as if they're trying to force the citizens in and whatever is beyond that wall outside. It feels pretty weird the more I think about it."

"Then stop thinking about it, Jak," the Ottsel suggested as he hopped off of the shoulder and walked towards the edge of the walkway and peered down into the water. "It's just as simple as that, big guy. What you don't think about can't end up confusing you in the long run. That's what I like to do when things like that happen to me. It helps when you want to avoid giving yourself a major headache."

"Well, that explains how come you have a tendency to space out a lot whenever some of us are talking to you," the teen replied with an amused smile quickly forming on his lips. "I've always wondered what it was that was occupying your mind whenever Keira, Samos, or I were talking about something specific or important to you. It's just like you to be spacing off whenever you're forced to listen to something that's boring to you. That's something about you I doubt would ever change."

"Hey, you would be doing the same exact thing if you were standing in my shoes; and that's assuming if I were wearing a pair, that is. You know better than anybody else that I don't like to listen to all those technical things that Samos or Keira spew out. Not only do I not understand a single word they say whenever they go and do that, but it's also as boring and uninteresting as the Precursors themselves."

"Well, you could at least pretend to be somewhat interested in what they were saying," the blond sighed out more in a reminiscent fashion rather than frustration as he approached the edge and laid down so that his head and shoulders were hovering above the water. "If not that, then try to pretend that you were paying attention. Don't you know that it isn't nice to be ignoring people when they're talking to you?" He then added silently with a shrug of his shoulders, "_Not that I really care, by the way. It's just for the sake of my own curiosity, is all._"

"Then why haven't you done anything about it my big and fine friend?" the orange furry animal snapped back playfully, catching the silent addition with his skillful eyes as he watched the teen cup his hands together and placed them into the water before bringing them back to his face, sending water particles flying with some hitting the Ottsel on the face. "You had all the time in the world to talk to me about it before today. Why didn't you do it during all of those other great moments of opportunity? Oh, I know why; it's because you like me just the way I am and you wouldn't go about changing me into anything else. Isn't that right buddy?"

"You're more than right on that," he said with a smile before splashing another handful of water on his face, feeling the slight lightheadedness that was still in his head dissipate. "You practically hit the center of the bull's-eye on that. Besides, I'm sure that you wouldn't have liked it if I started bugging you about trying to act a bit better at the time, and I'm very sure that you're still the same on that right now."

"You got that right, big guy. By your own admission, Orange Lightning is fine just the way he is and he isn't going to be changing anytime for anybody. He's going to stay as your cuddly little Ottsel that has more than enough love in him to drive you nuts and likes to nuzzle your neck on your shoulders. Come on, admit it; I know you like it when I do that to you," Daxter added playfully with a little poke as he saw Jak's cheeks start to redden. They were quickly covered up, though, with another handful of water splashing on his face.

Without saying anything else, the blond immediately placed some water on his hair right over where the bloodstain he figured to be at was. He was obviously trying to wash it out and was doing a bad job at it; he was missing the crimson spot on his head entirely. The stain was more on the right side and he was dumping water towards the center. The Ottsel just chuckled lightly at seeing his friend struggle to clean his hair, but he got closer to try and help him get the job done in the end.

"Move your hand a little bit more over here, big guy," he said as he climbed onto his back and started to guide his friend's hand over towards the bloodstain. Just dump the water over here and you should be able to get it out. Either that or you can just dunk your entire head in that water and wash it out that way. To be honest with you, I think that would be easier than doing it this way."

"Dax, this is my own head here and I'll do whatever it is that I want to do with it," Jak replied as he continued to pour the cool water over the stain with the help of small furry guiding hands. "If you want to see a head being dunked into this water, then you can go ahead and do it with your own. I'm just doing it this way so I don't end up accidentally falling into the water. In case you've forgotten, I don't have a spare set of clothes with me and I don't know where I can get some around here."

"Hey, I was just saying," the Ottsel stated defensively as he started to scrub away at the blood, watching it slowly start to run off and reveal the blond hair it was purposely obscuring. "No need to get all huffy on me about that. Now hold still for a moment while I try and get this icky stuff out of your hair. God, this would be so much easier if we had some shampoo or even a bar of soap to help us with this. Just water makes the job that much harder."

After a few more minutes of scrubbing and silent grumbling to himself, Daxter finally managed to help Jak get the crimson bloodstain completely out of his hair. Once again, it looked beautifully blond and nothing was obscuring the brilliance that shone whenever the sunlight hit it. The teen then got up, startling the animal and forcing him to quickly hop off lest he suffer injury from an awkward fall, and shook his hair dry of any excess water. Only a few light sprinkling of moisture was left on his strands of hair after the few seconds of shaking.

Standing back up onto his feet, the teen breathed in a large breath of the air. It held a slightly off scent then that of the air in Sandover, probably due to the grayish cloud that hovered above them. Other than that, it was practically breathable as any other kind of air out there. Now, if only the city had more green to it…

"So, what do you think we should be doing now, Jak?" Daxter asked as he took a bit of the water himself and splashed his face. "I don't think standing around here washing our faces is really a productive thing to be doing right now. Let's not forget that we still have some crimson-armored idiots on our tails here."

"I remember," Jak nearly whined out upon being reminded about the predicament they were still in. "You didn't have to go reminding me about that. Anyway, I don't know what we're going to be doing now. For all I know, we're going to have to keep running until we find somewhere safe to hide out for a while until things cool down. _Either that or we can just let ourselves get shot and bleed away in the middle of the streets,_" he added morbidly with slight twitches of his eyes.

"You don't have to start getting all sarcastic on me buddy, you know?" the Ottsel replied as he rolled his dark blue eyes at the unspoken comment shining through light blue ones. "I was just trying to make sure that we weren't going to be doing anything else that could potentially get the both of us captured again or killed. I _do_ want to live a long and healthy life while I still can, you know?"

"Well, don't we all want to have that?" the teen replied in a half-sarcastic, half-agreement tone. "Well, maybe we can just wander around here at the port and hope that we can find something or somebody who could help us, or we could go back into the crowded streets and hope for the best in there. To be honest with you, we really don't have the greatest of choices sitting in front of us right now."

"Oh, I have an idea, I have an idea!" the animal exclaimed loudly and excitedly, earning him strange looks from the people walking by them. "How about we take old Loghead's advice and try to look for the Underground he was talking about? He did say that they could help us and that they were somewhere here in the port before he went and disappeared on us during our warp mishap. Ohh, just thinking about that gives me the chills," he said as he visibly shivered at the memory.

"Oh yeah; I'd almost forgotten about that," the blond stated as his eyebrows raised in intrigue. "Yeah, I suppose we could do that. I doubt that there's another port like this in the city . But there's just one problem here; just how are we going to find this group of people, and that's assuming the Underground is a group of people, without having to look so suspicious in the process? I really don't want to be getting another hit in the head right now. One's more than enough for me."

"Relax, big guy; I got it all covered here. Just listen to me here and go along with the plan. All we have to do is just pull a few random people off the streets for a moment and ask them if they know anything about this group. It couldn't be anymore simpler than that. If anybody knows what we're talking about, then I'm sure they'll tell us at least a little bit about them."

"Uh, I don't think that's really such a great idea, Dax. What if this group doesn't want to be found that easily? I wouldn't think that just any person off of the streets would know about where they're located. And judging by what Samos said, they're probably a group fighting against the city's Krimson Guard force. Besides, just pulling people off the streets and asking them random questions is probably going to get us into more trouble. I know that you know that it looks like they're mostly afraid of the guards, but I don't think they won't hesitate to ask them for help if they feel threatened. I really don't have the impression that this is the most peaceful of cities."

"Ha, you'd have to be a dummy to think this place was peaceful. I mean, just look at everybody here! No one's smiling; nobody is talking with each other about anything or are at least doing so in a small whisper so they're not overheard; and this place is just plain dull. These are things you don't normally find in a peaceful city."

Before Jak could say anything else, a loud voice suddenly broke through the relatively quiet port. It was laced with pride and the owner of said voice sounded quite happy about something. This suddenness was enough to startle both teens and have them look behind them where the voice originated from. What they saw then gave both of them an unpleasant shock.

"There they are!" a man who looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties exclaimed as he pointed right at the two. On each side of him were people holding big guns in their hands and were garbed in clothing that was right now all too familiar to them. Crimson armor meant that the Krimson Guards were with this man, and it seemed that he was leading them to where they were. "That's the guy with his talking rat on his shoulder. I told you that I saw them here."

"And so you did," one of the guards stated in an indifferent tone as he reached into his pocket and drew out a small leather pouch. He then threw the object towards the man, who eagerly caught it mid-air placed it into his pocket. "Here's the money we promised you for leading us to them. Now hurry up and get out of here before I change my mind on that!"

"Oh, thank you sir!" the man proudly said as he started to run back into the city with a small spring in his steps. "I do you don't mind that I just robbed you of your money! Thank you again for your generosity!"

"Why, you ungrateful no-good excuse for a man!" the second guard exclaimed angrily upon being insulted. He then propped his gun up and took aim at the quickly fleeing man. "I ought to shoot you right now and then we'll see who'll be laughing now!"

"Put that thing down, man," the first one commanded calmly as he continued to keep his eyes on Jak and Daxter, who stood in shock the whole time ever since they saw them. Apparently, they were not expecting to have been found and taken by surprise so soon after escaping. "He's not leaving with what he thought he was going to initially get. That bag may feel heavy to him right now, but it's filled with all my lowest value coins. Once he opens it, he'll find that there's not more than a few dollars at best; definitely not enough to even get him though the day."

"Still, he had no right to be insulting us like that," the other complained as he reluctantly lowered his gun and watch the man disappear from view. He then added in a happier tone, "I should have known, though, that you would pull such an underhanded stunt like that."

"I suggest we start moving on more important things now. Namely, we should start thinking about what we're going to be doing with these two runaways. After all, they are wanted for conspiracy and for evading arrest. And that little furball with him is suspected of inflicting harm on a Krimson Guard. Those are charges not to be taken lightly, you know?"

All the two could do right now was stand in silence as they recovered from their initial shock. The emotion that replaced it, though, was one of dread as they allowed the gravity of their situation to sink in. Once again, they were cornered by two members of the Krimson Guards, these ones most likely different from the earlier ones. It seemed as though their thoughts for looking for the Underground was going to be put on hold for a while.

"_Oh, not again,_" Daxter mentally groaned out as he let his body slump a bit. _"Things just haven't been going right ever since we got here. Now how are we going to get ourselves out of this mess? I don't think we'll be as lucky as last time and get the opportunity to escape._"

"_Don't worry, buddy,_" Jak indicated with a slight movement of his shoulders when he saw the Ottsel's slump form. "_I'll think of a way to get us out of this mess this time around. Just give me a couple of minutes to think of something. Just give me some time to think._"

"_Yeah, well you better hurry it up,_" the animal urged as he kept his gaze at the two Krimson Guards, who both had their weapons drawn and aimed at them. "_ I don't think these two brutes are going to be giving you a couple of minutes to think. Whatever you're thinking of, you better think it up fast and do something with it! I don't want to end up being a dead Ottsel today!_"


	8. More Krimson Guard Troubles

Hello everybody! I hope you all like how this story is starting to come along. Please remember to leave some reviews after you're done reading. I would like to know from my peers how I'm doing and what they think of it. And if you do leave a review, please put down more than just "Keep writing!" It doesn't sound very...motivating, for lack of a better way to say it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review. Until the next update!

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Chapter 8: More Krimson Guard Troubles  
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"I didn't think that we would be able to find you two so easily and quickly," the Krimson Guard on the two teens' left side stated, his gun still trained on them. "The orders for your capture and your descriptions only came in about ten minutes ago. I guess we lucked out that the first person we asked saw you pass by him."

"Yay, lucky you," Daxter deadpanned as a huge sigh left his lips. He dared not move from his spot on the ground in fear of being shot at by the huge gun, so he settled on using his mouth to insult instead. "So you found us. Big freaking deal. You probably wouldn't have if you hadn't harassed every person you saw once you figured out that we were on the run from you. You two and the rest in your group are nothing but a bunch of bullies, aren't you? I doubt that you would be able to take on somebody who was on the same level as you are."

"You got a lot of cheek for someone as small as you," the second guard stated in a slightly monotonous tone that almost portrayed no emotion as he placed a calm shoulder on his partner. Right at that moment, he started to go ballistic upon the insults thrown at them but was already held down by the hand. "If you were someone else and if we were in different situations, I'm sure I would have liked you a lot. Unfortunately, you're a fugitive in the eyes of Haven City and must be dealt with as such, even if you are a rather likable character."

"Oh, stuff it, you big metal brute," the Ottsel snarled out as he dared to move up towards Jak's shoulders, much to the teen's surprise and fright. Amazingly, the man did not make any move to shoot him down; not even the hot-headed one moved a muscle, although it looked like he really wanted to judging by his involuntarily twitching. "Having _you_ say great stuff about me really makes me sick to my stomach. The only ones allowed to talk about me that way are my friends and my best-est buddy in the whole entire world, and that's good old Jak here."

"Just please shut up, Dax!" Jak hissed out in a begging tone while trying his best to not look so nervous. "I don't want you ending up getting yourself killed over this. I swear, if you get yourself killed now, I'm going to follow you so you won't be hearing the end of it from me!"

"It sounds like you have a very faithful friend under your padded feet," the calm guard said. "You hardly see anything like that in this city anymore. Are you sure these two are the ones that were reportedly evading arrest and attacking a couple of our men in order to make a break for it?"

"That's what the report on our radio said," the other stated as he kept a stone-hard glare at the two teens and kept his gun trained on them. "They said that a blond boy dressed in weird clothing was able to escape due to the efforts of his pet rat or whatever that thing is causing a distraction. After causing them bodily injury, they fled the scene before they could be arrested again."

"Excuse me?" Daxter asked with a raised eyebrow and a defiant tone in his words. "Just what in the name of the Precursors are you talking about here? I think you need to get your facts straight before you start looking around town for potential people to take in. Yes, it's true that I caused a distraction so my buddy here could escape. However, _I_ wasn't the one to hurt them. Haven't you noticed how big I am right now? Do you really think I'd be capable of doing something like that? One of them decided to go berserk and went on a fighting rampage against his partner."

"And that's what _you_ would like us to believe," the hot-headed guard responded in a tone that was just as defiant. "Don't you dare say that our own men lied about what happened to them. They gave clear descriptions on the both of you and they proved that at least one of them had injuries on him. I think that's more than enough to show that they were telling the truth about you, you liar."

"Unfortunately for you, I think our men there twisted the truth around a bit," the other man replied with a small sigh. "Don't forget that they have messed up a few times in the past, so it wouldn't be a stretch to say that they said a few things to us that never really happened. However, that doesn't really matter at this point anymore. What matters now is that we managed to find you two right here in the harbor."

"So what's going to happen to us now that you've found and cornered us here?" Jak asked as he continued to flip through his mind at a frighteningly fast pace for a plan that could get them out of this mess. "You're just going to kill us right where in the harbor in front of a lot of people, are you? I really doubt that you're going to try your hand at capturing me again and taking me to wherever it is the others were trying to go to the first time around."

"Fortunately for you and your pet rat, as he is also on the capture list, Captain Errol had specific instructions to _escort_ you two straight to the palace dungeons. There was no mention about gunning the two of you down here in the middle of the streets. It's too messy and it would cause an unnecessary scene. However, if you were to rebel against us now, I can't guarantee that there won't be a scene."

"Beautiful threat, gruesome boy," the Ottsel stated sarcastically, obviously not at all phased by the threats to their lives. "I don't know about the other people that you arrested or killed; but Jak and I are definitely different from them. We don't easily get broken by your threats nor do we stay down when you try to beat us into the ground. You're just wasting your time trying to scare us into going with you."

"Alright, enough talk!" the hot-headed guard said as he purposely jabbed his gun at Jak's side, causing him to move back a bit and almost into the water. "If you're not going to be coming with us willingly, then we're just going to have to do it by force. I reckon a good bonk to the head would do the trick."

Amazingly, throughout the whole time the four were having this verbal exchange, a crowd never gathered around them like last time. None of the passersby were curious as to what was going on. Apparently, they already knew what was happening and did not want to be dragged into whatever trouble that was bound to happen soon. They just continued on their way as if nothing was going on. It was as if this was a normal occurrence to them and was nothing of great significance.

Once the blond had regained his balance after being roughly pushed back, an idea came to him. It was a bit of a long shot and it had no guarantee that it would work, but it was the only thing he could come up with. Now all he had to do was wait for the right moment to approach them again and they would be out of this mess.

"Look, the other two guards already tried to knock me out with their gun handles," Jak said as he tried to lure the hot-headed one into his trap. "Suffice to say, I'm still wide awake and going at it. If that technique of theirs didn't work for them, then what's telling you that it's going to work on me this time? It's obvious that I don't really get knocked unconscious that easily."

"Who said anything about me trying to knock you out like a light like the others tried to do?" the calm guard asked in a tone that reflected the sinister smile that was no doubt on his lips behind his helmet. "I'm not so much as a fool to try and do something in a certain way when it already didn't work the first time around. I feel that the more direct approach is appropriate for situations such as this. Of course, I must be careful as to not be _too_ direct when using this method."

Without any warning, he brought his gun, which had been resting at his side the whole time, up to his eye level. He then shot one bullet aimed right at Jak's head. However, he intended for it to miss and it went whizzing though the one inch space that was between his ear and where Daxter was standing. All the two teens could do was stand straight up in shock as they realized how close the other came to being killed just now."

"I suggest that you take that as a warning for the both of you," he stated as he kept his gun aimed and shifted his position ever so slightly so that he was now clearly pointing at the blonde's head. "If you try to resist and make a fool out of us, I won't hesitate to shoot either you or your orange pet down. I do hope that we all understand each other and the consequences regarding any thoughts of escaping."

"W-well…," Daxter stuttered out as he chuckled nervously. "I-I guess we both understand you point perfectly here. Yeah; there's no need for you to be shooting us now. We'll comply! We'll go to wherever it is that you two want us to go to. Just don't shoot at us with that big thing again."

"_Rile up the other guard again for me Dax,_" Jak said to the Ottsel with a small shrug of the shoulder he was perched on. The movement was so small that it went unnoticed by the Krimson Guards; yet it was also enough to gain the animal's attention. It was also apparent through this movement that he was still quite shaken up at being so close to death earlier. "_I have a way out of this, but he needs to be angry for it to work._"

"_Uh, okay buddy,_" he answered back silently, wondering just what it was the teen was cooking up in his head that he would need to be nearly pushed into the water again. He then took a deep breath to calm his nerves and said, "We completely understand what you're trying to say to us, especially now that we have that gun of yours trained on us. However," he added as he slowly regained his cocky attitude and brought it out in full force, "I don't think we'd feel comfortable being escorted by your big angry brute partner beside you. He looks ready to kill us even before we even do anything like escaping. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he has problems in that head of his."

"What did you say, you little freak of nature?" the hot-headed guard all but shouted as he immediately got into Daxter's face. "You're saying that I have a problem? I have a problem? I suggest you think carefully before saying that I have a problem. The last time I checked, _you_ were the one with the major problems! Actually, you _are_ a problem! Who ever heard of an animal that could talk and cop a damn attitude? Your very existence is a problem!"

"Hey, you don't talk about my buddy that way!" Jak defended the Ottsel from the onslaught of insults while moving back a bit. The calm guard merely watched, unaware of the cogs that were starting to move around in the teen's brain. "If you're insulting him, then you're also insulting me. That means that you'll have to get through to me before you can get to him! Got it?"

"And why don't you shut up for once?" the guard continued on as he redirected his words towards the blond. "Why don't you just stay quiet like you're supposed to be? The stupid report said that you were a damn mute and wouldn't answer to any questions Commander Errol asked you. If you were just saving your voice for annoying us, then I suggest you hurry up and play the mute again before I kill you."

"Oh, I would really like to see you try," the teen said in the cockiest voice he could muster. Everything was falling into his plans. He just needed one little push in the right direction to make it all work. "You'd have to kill me before you'd be able to make me stay quiet."

"Alright, you just took one step too far in the wrong direction pal!" the guard shouted angrily as he brought the butt of his gun up and was about to give a mighty push at the blond. "It's time that somebody set you straight and show you who always gets the last word here in this city!"

With that, the man set himself up for a mighty push that was directed right at Jak. Just before it made contact with the teen's chest, though, he quickly stepped off towards the side of the man to avoid the strike. He was careful to make sure that when he moved away, he was out of the other guard's range of fire and hiding behind the now stumbling guard's body. This caused the calm one to flinch momentarily as he was about to fire his gun at him and stopped at the last second. It was in this one moment of uncertainty that he made his move.

Since the hot-headed guard was already stumbling forward beyond recovery, Jak ignored him and concentrated his efforts on the calm one. Just as he heard a splash come from behind accompanied with a gargled yell, he grabbed a hold of the big gun and started to wrestle the thing out from the guard's hands. The guard, who had regained his concentration upon hearing the splash, fought back and kept a firm grip on his weapon while tugging it back towards him. Unfortunately for him, he fell into a trap himself.

While he was busy trying to get the blonde's hands off of his gun, he failed to notice the slight glint of an idea flashing through his eyes. Confident that he was now tugging with all his might, the teen simply gave off a small unreadable smile. He then let go of the gun altogether and sent the guard flying backwards and onto the ground with a thud. The move came to such a great surprise to the man; he let go of his gun at the same time he felt himself falling down. As a result, it flew a few feet away from where he had fallen and Jak made his way towards it as quickly as he could. Daxter, who had been busy trying to stay on his shoulder perch the whole time, only watched as the entire thing unfolded before him.

"That was your plan, big guy?" he asked as he saw his buddy bend down and pick up the gun. He then saw him try to hold it in the same way he saw the two Krimson Guards did and aimed it at the one that was trying to frantically get up to his feet. "That really wasn't what I was expecting. Then again, it worked so I'm not really complaining here or anything."

"You really do have a lot of spunk in you, kid," the calm guard complimented Jak as he got back onto his feet, clearly not phased at seeing his own gun being pointed at him. "You also know how to think while under great pressure. It really is a shame that a talent such as yours has to go to waste. I truly regret having to have to bring you in to the palace and to your inevitable doom."

"I rather that you save your pity for someone else," Jak stated calmly as he shifted the gun a bit and placed his index finger over what he assumed to be the trigger button for the bullet. "I would also think twice before you start doing something here. I'm now the one with the gun here."

"Oh please, do you honestly think that you could threaten me like that? I doubt that you even know how to use one of those things. Those weapons were specially made for only members of the Krimson Guard. It takes a while to have even the basic training for it mastered. There's no way that you'd be able to use it now; I can guarantee that."

"Are you sure about that?" the blond asked as he squeezed the button and heard the sound of a bullet leaving the gun. At the same time, he felt a kickback from the gun and was sent stumbling backwards a couple steps before regaining his balance. Daxter, on the other hand, fell onto the floor upon feeling the sudden rumble on his shoulder and losing his balance.

"Grr, damn it!" the guard exclaimed as he immediately reached for his left shoulder. Even through the blood red armor he was wearing, it was clear that the bullet pierced his shoulder and he was bleeding. "You really are better than I thought. I suppose it was stupid of me to have underestimated you."

"You got that right, you big dummy!" Daxter exclaimed proudly as he quickly got back onto his feet and made his way back onto Jak's shoulder. This time, he made sure to grab onto a small lock of blond hair so as to be prepared for the next sudden jolt from the gun. "Never underestimate the strength of the Demolition Duo. That'll be one thing you'll definitely regret."

"The Demolition Duo?" Jak repeated, his voice laced with slight intrigue as he raised an eyebrow at the Ottsel without having his blue eyes leave the injured Krimson Guard in front of him. "Since when have you decided to start calling us the Demolition Duo Dax?"

"Ever since I came up with it just now," the animal explained as he gave off a rather smug smile, a move that the blond easily felt. "I figured it'd go nice with how we've been doing things ever since we got here. So what do you think? Do you like it, big guy?"

"I'd be lying to you if I said that it didn't sound good," the teen replied with a smile. "However, I don't think now's the time to be discussing this. We kind of have more important things to be thinking about right now."

"Such as how you're going to survive once I get my hands on you for doing this to me," the calm guard stated as he gave off a small growl. "I've been patient with you all this time, and I've been slowly losing it since. You have driven it off the edge now, and I'm no longer going to be playing around with you."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," the blond said with an unusually emotionless face. He then pulled the trigger on the gun again and struck the man right in the center of his chest. "Of course, I'm not going to give you the chance to be serious with me."

The man then fell back onto the ground with a low groan of pain as he weakly placed one of his hands onto his now bleeding chest in a futile attempt to stop the flow of blood from leaving his body. With a last shuddering breath escaping his lips, his body went completely limp and he was dead.

"…Whoa Jak," Daxter whispered once his mind registered what his best buddy had just done. His eyes were glued to the man he had just saw the teen killed. "Did you really just kill the guy now? I didn't think that you would do something like that in your life. I mean…, Whoa!"

"I don't plan to make a habit out of it, buddy," Jak stated plainly as he lowered the gun to his side. "I just treated this as if we were facing some of the monsters we had back in Sandover. Our lives were in danger now, just like it was when we were against monsters. I know it sounds cold, but the only way we could stay alive against this guy was to kill him."

"Hey, I'm…not complaining or anything like that!" the Ottsel hastily stated as he hopped off of the teen's shoulder and walked over to the dead Krimson Guard. "I'm just surprised that you actually killed a person instead of a monster. Then again, when you put it that way, I can see why you had to do it."

"I get the feeling that I'm going to have to do that more often around here. I think I can take a good guess as to why this city seems a bit gloomy now. It's probably the old survival of the fittest game with everybody. You either stand up for yourself and live to see another day, or you get captured by people like the Krimson Guard and have your life ruined or taken."

"And that's exactly right, boy!" a familiar voice suddenly cut through their small conversation. Suddenly, the teen felt something push him roughly towards his side and he fell onto the floor with a thud. He then heard Daxter screaming out of fright, a sound that he rarely heard and was always afraid to hear.

When the blond regained his bearings, he looked up at the direction he heard the scream and saw the hot-headed Krimson Guard he had provoked into falling into the water a couple of minutes ago. He was completely drenched and was dripping water everywhere, but that was not what he was concentrating on. What he was looking at was his best buddy lying on the ground and being half-crushed by a boot with a big gun that was also dripping with water pointed directly at his head.

"This city is a place where only the strong survive," the man said as he stared the shocked teen down. "If you let your guard down for even one second, that'll be the worst and last mistake you'll ever make. This is exactly one of those moments for you dear little talking rat here."

"D-Daxter!" Jak exclaimed as he started to approach his buddy but stopped when he saw his face immediately contort in pain. "Leave him alone! What you really want is me! You don't even want him, do you? You're just using him so you can get me to go with you to prison, right?"

"That's part of my plan, yes. However, I also want my revenge against this creature for insulting me earlier. I'm now going to teach the both of you a very valuable lesson here; never dare to insult a member of the Krimson Guard. If you do, then you're going to pay for it with your very life. Now it's time to say your goodbyes, my furry little animal. Your time to live has long since expired."

"No, don't!" the blond all but shouted with great panic running through his voice as he tried to take another step forward. He was about to say something else, but his words were drowned out and he was once again frozen to the ground upon hearing the sharp sound of a gunshot echoing throughout the harbor.


	9. A Small Glimmer in the Bleak City

**Chapter 9: A Small Glimmer in the Bleak City**

"_Oh boy, this is not good!_" Daxter thought fearfully as he felt the pressure being placed on his chest tightening every now and then. Being pinned underneath a brown leather boot of someone who was obviously larger than you and being aimed at with said person's gun was really not the greatest of places to be at. "_This is definitely not good! I'm being crushed to death by big brute here and he's pointing his humongous gun at me. If the pressure doesn't kill me, then a bullet from that thing will! Oh, why in the name of the Precursor's do I have such bad luck with things like this? And why isn't Jak doing anything to help me get out of this mess? Some friend he turned out to be! Just where in the name of all that's holy is he?_"

"I'm now going to teach the both of you a very valuable lesson here," he heard the Krimson Guard crushing him say to him and Jak. When he turned his head a bit to the side where he last remembered seeing the blond, he then realized why his best buddy was not helping him get out of this mess. He saw the teen standing a couple of feet away with a look of shock and helplessness written on his face. He then figured that the sight of the deadly predicament he was in was what caused him to only watch not out of fear for himself but in fear of actually causing the guard above to shoot.

"Never dare to insult a member of the Krimson Guard," the man stated with a snarl slight venom running through each of his words. "If you do, then you're going to pay for it with your very life. Now it's time to say your goodbyes, my furry little animal. Your time to live has long since expired."

"No, don't!" the Ottsel heard the blond desperately shouting at the man before he instinctively shut his eyes tightly to avoid seeing what was no doubt going to happen next. He knew that he was going to be dead within the next second or two. His mind had completely froze over at this point and the only two things it was able to relay to him was to keep his eyes closed and hope that dying was as quick and painless as he heard some of the other people back at home say it was.

The next thing the animal heard was the sharp familiar sound of a gunshot being fired from the guard's gun. His breath caught in his throat and his whole body tensed up. It almost felt like his entire body was failing and shutting down. Then again, what else did he expect to feel after being fatally shot in the head? He figured that his body would have some kind of reaction upon dying, and this was probably the result of it. The feeling of breathlessness; the feel of his bodily systems permanently shutting down; it all had to have been associated with dying.

"_A-am I dead?_" he wondered with a mental whimper as his mind, or the faint voices of his consciousness in this case, tried to form coherent thoughts. It was not easy to do so since he was still reeling from the trauma of actually being shot to death just now. "_I don't feel anything right now. No breeze; no pain; nothing at all! I-I don't think I'm even breathing anymore! All I hear is the sound of my heart still beating in my chest and the blood pumping loudly in my ears._

_W-wait a minute,_" he suddenly thought once he noticed what it was his mind had just processed. "_Wait just a damn Precursor minute! All I hear is the sound of my heart in my chest and the blood being pumped to my ears?_" he repeated as he started to feel himself breathing again. "_But how is that possible when I'm already dead? The last time I checked, dead people don't hear their blood pumping or their heart beating; unless…, I'm not really dead at all!_"

With a mixed feeling of shock and uncertainty now coursing through his supposedly dead body, Daxter suddenly had a funny feeling brewing in the pit of his stomach. He may have not been an expert on death and knew what happened after dying, but he was sure of a couple of things. His heart should not be working if he was actually dead, and he technically should not be able to feel anything, much less a funny feeling making itself known in his stomach.

With these things floating around in his head, the Ottsel dared to open his eyes that he had shut so tightly before hearing the sharp sound of a bullet. After willing himself to do so for a couple of seconds, he was surprised at what he saw when he opened them. He saw the same smoggy blue sky above him that he had come to associate with Haven City, a clear sign that he was indeed alive and kicking. That, however, was not the thing that surprised him the most. What really surprised him was the lack of both a leather brown boot that was once applying slightly painful pressure on his chest and a huge gun being pointed at his skull. Both offending things had suddenly disappeared from his point of view.

"Wh-what the…?" Daxter managed to gulp out with great difficulty as his voice felt completely clogged up with air that had somehow gotten itself trapped there. The shock his system received earlier from literally being inches away from death's doorstep was apparently still there, and he had a very hard time trying to get his mind to work around it. Once the Ottsel managed to do so, though, he still found it extremely hard to come up with anything to say; this was because he simply had absolutely nothing to say, which was a rare occurrence with him.

Finally settling on trying to get off of his back and see just what was going on, he slowly sat up and cautiously looked around him for any funny stuff that might have been going on. Upon doing so, he noticed Jak still standing the same distance away from him when he was first being crushed. It looked as though he was still keeping his breath in, not already noticing that the animal was still alive. He also noticed that he was staring intently at something on the ground beside the orange creature, whether intentionally or not. Curious, he looked at the same spot as the blond and was surprised at what he saw lying practically next to him.

Lying just a foot or so away from him was the Krimson Guard that was about to do away him a second ago. He was lying on his back and looking up towards the smoggy sky. At first glance, it looked as though he fell backwards or something with his gun staying tightly in his hands. However, upon closer inspection, he saw that he did not just happen to fall down; he was forced into that position. Situated at the dead center of his forehead was a hole that was slowly leaking out red blood and pooling onto the ground. It was clear to the animal that the man was dead, but the question that brought to his mind was who had killed him?

"D-Daxter!" Jak breathed out in great relief as he wasted no time in closing the gap between them and bringing the Ottsel into his arms and tightly embracing him. His sense of relief was so great; it was almost enough to make the teen cry out in a mixture of joy and relief. "You're alive! Oh, thank the Precursors and what other gods that are out there that you're alright! I don't think I've ever been more scared in my entire life. I think my heart stopped beating when I heard that gun go off. I thought then that he actually pulled the trigger and killed you!"

"J-Jak…," the animal said in a tone that was just barely above a whisper, his shock still present in his body and taking its sweet time to leave. A couple seconds later, that feeling disappeared and he finally regained total control of his senses. That was when he finally noticed that he was being hugged tightly by his best friend. He then returned the gesture by allowing himself to nestle further into the warm chest and listen to the steady unbroken rhythm of the teen's excited heartbeat, the adrenaline still coursing through his system.

"Jak!" he shouted out with more energy building in his voice, although it sounded a bit muffled due to being so deeply snuggled into the embrace. "I never thought that being that close to death would be so scary! I don't ever want to be that close to dying again, you hear me? Never again! I just…, I didn't want to leave you on you own in this stupid place all by yourself," he added as a little side note. "I mean, who'd look after you and keep you in line when I kick the bucket?"

Relieved upon hearing his best buddy somewhat back to his old self and spewing out comments that only he could come up with, Jak loosened his grip on the animal before replying, "Yeah, only you would know how to push me in the right direction without going too far. I promise you; I'll make sure that you're never in that position again. I don't think I'd be able to keep on going if you were to die. God, I was so frightened there. I thought I was going to lose you!"

"Well, you don't have to worry about that for now, you two," a strong and deep voice that suddenly appeared out of nowhere stated rather cheerfully, startling the two friends out of their relieved musings. "Those two Krimson Guard guys aren't going to be getting back up onto their feet to try and kill you two again anytime soon. The most you'd have to worry about now are the other guard members once they figure out what's happened to these two."

Upon hearing the unfamiliarly deep, yet friendly voice talking to them, the blond teen turned his entire body around to meet the new person approaching them while still holding on tightly to the orange furry bundle in his arms. The Ottsel, who tried to get out of the embrace in order to get a better look and failing to do so successfully, turned his head a bit towards the source of the voice.

Once both boys were able to see the new person standing just a few feet away, they were amazed at the man's appearance. He was dressed in casual clothing that consisted of tan-gray leather pants held up with a brown leather belt that covered the top portion of his dull black boots and a plain black shirt. It seemed tight on him for it easily showed off the outline of his muscular chest, abs, and biceps. His face looked young, yet also had a battle-hardened feel to it as his short silver hair had a somewhat ruffled and untamed look to it. If they were to have just take a quick glance at him and disregarded the large gun that was in his brown fingerless-gloved hands, they would have thought him to be just a normal person who just happened to be a muscle head.

"Who are you?" Jak hastily demanded, accidentally making his voice sounding more defensive than he had intended for it to sound. Then again, he was not sure who this person who had just appeared out from nowhere was or what he wanted to do with them; and he was not very keen on the idea of trusting the people in this town so easily any time soon, so it was better to play it safe rather than casual. "Were you the one who took out that guy for us?"

"Whoa, calm down there, chili pepper!" the man stated with a small chuckle as he lowered his gun to his side and raised his free hand up in a defensive manner. "I'm not here to hurt you or anything like that. I just came here when I heard that there was some kind of commotion going on involving two Krimson Guards and a blond boy with his pet here at the docks. Word on the street has it that you were a runaway from another group of guards that were escorting you to the palace prisons. Needless to say, I just wanted to see for myself the person who actually had the guts to take a stand against them on his own and escape from them alive."

"Whoa, hold it there for just a minute buddy!" Daxter interrupted as he finally managed to squirm his way out of Jak's now suffocating hug and take his original spot on his shoulder. "Are you saying that you actually heard about us from the people who happened to see _me_ help Jak escape from the damn KG about a half hour ago? You want us to believe that along with the fact that you were curious to have a look at us when you heard that we were involved in another ever so innocent struggle with them again here? I don't think news like that can travel that quickly in such a short amount of time. I don't know about Jak here, but I find the whole thing a little hard for me to really stomach, muscle man."

"Believe it or not, I'm really not surprised that you feel that way, little guy," the man replied with a small sigh escaping his lips. He did not, however, miss the small glint in the Ottsel's eyes upon being referred to as a person rather than an animal. "In this city, though, word of anything related to the KG spreads quicker than the sudden formation of a wicked sandstorm in the Wastelands. After all you two have been through in the past hour or so, I don't blame you for not being so trusting right now. I'm sad to say, though, that it's a good habit to pick up these days whenever you're living in a place like this. These days, you just can't go blindly trusting anybody in this forsaken city without fear of betrayal and stuff like that. It's too risky and would most likely end with you rotting away in prison.

"But anyway, enough of this talk about what's happened in the past," he continued on with a clearing of his throat as he dismantled his gun into two parts and placed each into a leather slot on both sides of his waist. It was during this one small moment that he did not notice the apprehensive look the animal shot at him. Even if he did notice it, he did not seem like the person who would have really cared much about it. "It's starting to get a bit boring now. I don't think I ever introduced myself to you boys yet. The name's Sig. It's a pleasure to meet you two."

With a wary eye and cautious mind, Jak stood ever vigilant as he watched the man who had called himself Sig come closer to him in a non-threatening fashion. He then saw him stop about a foot or so away and close the remaining distance with an outstretched arm and an open hand. It was apparent that he was going to attach a handshake along with his seemingly friendly greeting.

After eyeing the hand for a couple of seconds, the blond tentatively accepted it and shook it firmly. Upon doing so, he immediately felt his wariness towards the man suddenly fall apart and being replaced with a feeling of trust. He felt the sincerity and warmness being put behind the handshake that was equally firm against his hand yet also not so controlling that the man would have been the only one actually shaking. Even Daxter seemed to feel it radiating off from the gesture just by watching.

"Nice to meet you Sig," the blond greeted back, mentally noting that this was a man he could fully trust without question, even though this was only their first time ever meeting. "My name's Jak, and this is my buddy Daxter on my shoulder. Thanks a lot for saving him earlier. I didn't think that anybody would've been willing to risk their own lives to help save his."

"Not a problem, Jak," Sig replied with a smile as they unlinked their hands and he moved to ruffle the fur on the animal's head a bit in a friendly and playful fashion. The Ottsel knew the action was all in good heart, but he still did not like the gesture and tried to swat the big offending hand away with his small mousy ones. "I take pride in helping people like you get out of situations like the one you were in just now. I couldn't just stand by and watch a good guy get himself killed by the hands of the crooked Krimson Guard. It'd leave a bad taste in my mouth if I just ignored it while knowing that there was something that I could do about it. Besides, it's all in a day's work for me here, saving people and all that glorious stuff."

"And just what kind of work is that where you would go rescuing people without a good reason other than that they're being wrongly bullied?" Daxter asked with a raised eyebrow as he tried to fix the fur on his head a bit. "Sounds a lot like a dull and boring job with the potential of getting yourself killed by a bunch of crazy people, if you ask me. Why would you ever want to go through something like that, knowing that it could be the very last thing you may ever do?"

"Because somebody's got to stand up for the little guys who're too afraid to do anything about it," the buff man answered, unfazed by the sarcastic tone behind that were behind the Ottsel's words. "The baron of Haven City has great influence over this place. Thanks to the power it gives him, he uses it to strike down anybody who dare opposes the way he rules the city, which would pretty much be everybody. Because of the countless examples he's made to the citizens, everybody's too afraid to even dare talk about anything that regards him in fear of becoming his next sad victim.

"That's where the group I work for comes in to help them," he continued on as he took note of Jak's intrigued glint in his eyes and the slightly worried look on Daxter's face. "We fight as a group against the baron by striking him in certain places at certain times. It may be just during a small training mission of the guards or saving innocent people from being shipped to the prisons, but they all add up to our cause at the end of the day and brings us one step closer to a free Haven City."

"And what's the name of this group that you work for?" the teen asked with a raised eyebrow as his interest in this group started to grow along with the smile on his lips. "It sounds like something I wouldn't mind doing. After all, I kind of like helping people out whenever they find themselves in s bit of trouble. Besides, I'd also like to have a bit of revenge against the Krimson Guard for hitting me upside the head for no good reason. I'd like to pay them back with a hit of my own."

"What? Are you insane or something Jak?" the Ottsel nearly screamed out in shock as he could not believe what he was hearing coming out from his best friend's mouth. "You're not seriously considering going to sign up with the place this guy works for, are you? I know you're thinking that you can trust him and I have no problems with you on that. But don't you think you're jumping the gun just a little bit too quickly here? I mean, this is our lives you're thinking about risking here."

"You're little friend's right; this isn't something that you should just consider with a light heart. You should consider the risks involved with trying to go up against the baron and his Krimson Guard. Judging by how quickly you responded in wanting to join my group, I'd say that you're not from here. You can't even imagine just how crazy things can easily get during one of our missions. It can really get out of hand sometimes, and I get the feeling that this isn't the kind of helping that you're used to doing back from wherever it is that you came from."

"Just because this is probably different from the kind of help I'm used to giving doesn't mean that I can't help. I'm sure that I can still do stuff to help others who are in the same position I was in earlier. If the different part you're talking about is the possibility of killing someone during missions, then that's hardly an excuse to hold me back from joining. Sure, it might take me some time to get used to the thought of doing away with humans like me, but as long as I do so on those who pose an immediate threat to my life like the one I shot earlier, then I don't think it would end up as much of a problem for me."

"Heh, I like your way of thinking, kid. You've got a mind forged out of flexible steel; you're able to hold steady for what you want while not standing totally rock solid on one point of view. Someone like you would surely be a welcome sight in our group. Even so, I don't think that would be able to be a part of it, regardless of your mental ability to handle killing actual people. You see, the conditions surrounding one's admission into the group is that they must be able to prove both their physical and mental capabilities. Only once you've done so would they even consider letting you in to join our cause. They don't just go picking up random people off the streets that they think are tough and all that, you know?"

"Oh well, sounds like your chances of entering their nice little group are slim to none buddy," Daxter stated in a more than noticeable relieved tone as he lightly patted the teen's head. "I know that you're a tough guy and all that, but I don't think that you're good enough to really be seen as a potential person for Sig's group to consider you. No offense, but you are a bit on the skinny side. You got muscle, but I don't think that it's really appealing to them."

"Yeah, I guess you're right Dax," Jak sighed out in slight disappointment as he figured the Ottsel was right on this. This came as a surprise to the animal, for the blond did not usually agree with him whenever he came up with usually on-the-spur pitiful ways to dissuade him. "If they need me to do anything that requires heavy lifting during their test, then I don't think I'd make it. Oh, at least it was nice to think about working with them while it lasted. I guess the best we can do now is try to find some place to bunk at before night comes around. I don't want to go sleeping in the streets and end up getting shot without knowing it."

"And I'm guessing that you guys don't have a safe place to stay for the night, right?" Sig asked with a smile as he began to dig into his pants pockets for something. "You know, today just might be the luckiest day of your life. I might be able to help you out with your shelter problems. I just happen to know of a place where you two would be able to take a load off without having to worry so much about the KG on patrol. To be honest with you, the place I'm talking about is actually my old apartment that I was just about to move out of."

"Your apartment?" the animal repeated as he rested one bony elbow on Jak's head and rested his head on his hand. "Did I really just hear you say that or are my cute little Ottsel ears playing stupid tricks on me? Are you actually saying that you're going to let us stay in your apartment that you just said you're about to move out of soon? You're going to let us, a couple of guys whom you've met in the street only a few minutes ago, go crashing at your home for the night?"

"That's pretty much it," the man stated plainly as he pulled his hand out of his pockets and pulled out a couple of cards and a pencil. As he was quickly scribbling something onto the back of both, he said, "If you want the whole gist of it, though, I'm thinking of giving it to you two. After all, I've already found another place that's a bit better for me. Here's where the place is located," he said as he offered both of the white cards to them.

"What?" the blond exclaimed, his eyes slightly wide with shock at what he was hearing. "Are you being serious about this Sig? You're really just going to give us an apartment room that you're about to abandon after you just met us? Don't get me wrong here; I really appreciate this and everything else that you've done for us! But weren't you the one who said that you can't go trusting people so easily? It's just kind of weird that you're now going against your own advice."

"True, that was what I said. However, I have this feeling that you're somebody who wouldn't ever consider working for the wrong side of a war, and my hunches are never wrong when it comes to things like this. That's just my survival instincts kicking in and talking to me there. Just consider yourselves lucky that I actually trust you two so quickly. I'm not normally the type of person to go around doing that. Now hurry up and take the cards already."

Without waiting for a reaction, Sig quickly took one of the teen's hands and place the cards into it. While Jak was busy trying to rearrange them so they would not fall out from his palms, the silver haired man then reached behind him and started to fiddle around with something that looked to be on his belt. Once he brought his hands back in front of him, there were two separate pieces of a gun in each one. They almost looked like the pieces he had mounted on his sides, but they were smaller in size and did not seem to be as complicated.

"Before I forget, here's another little something for you to use, Jak," the man said as he shoved the two ebony pieces in front of the blond, who took them with a look of uncertainty on his face. "This is one of my guns I don't really use anymore. I promise you, though, it works just like it came freshly out of the manufacturing plant. All you have to do is lock it, load it, and aim it at the poor sap that's trying to get a piece of you. I'm telling you now, you're really going to need it if you want to stand a good chance at surviving in these crazy streets. I'm sure you already know it by now, but the Krimson Guard aren't known for showing mercy to anyone."

"Wow, the man just gave you a gun buddy!" Daxter stated happily as he gave off a low whistle before climbing down an arm in order to get a closer look at the newly acquired firearm. "Would you take a look at this beauty? I bet you it's almost as big as the ones the KG were lugging around. Now you have one that you can call your very own. It even looks a lot better than the ones those stupid brutes were carrying around. It's a lot shiner and has a cooler look."

"Actually, it's a bit smaller when compared to their standard grade weaponry. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard for my group to make guns as big as theirs since we either don't have the right resources or not enough of it. So we just make the best of what we have and created these small ones. Under the right hands, though, they can easily cause just as much damage, if not more, than the KG's big guns.

"And don't worry about not knowing how to assemble it," Sig said before he started to walk off in the opposite direction with his head still turned towards them. "It's pretty self-explanatory and shouldn't take you too long to figure it out. Sorry for having to walk off so suddenly on you now, but I'm kind of needed somewhere else. I've already spent more time than I should've here. Don't worry about trying to thank me for all this; you can do so by making sure the both of you stay alive. And just one more piece of friendly advice; money makes the world go round in this city. If you don't have any on you, then you're better off being taken in by the KG."

"W-wait Sig!" Jak called out to the man, but he continued to walk away from them and into the crowd of people. He soon disappeared from their line of sight. "Just how in the world are we going to be able to make money in this city? We don't even know about any businesses that might be hiring around here."

"Well, maybe you could take a look at the other card he gave you," Daxter suggested as he slinked down one of the teen's hands and took both cards before making his way back up onto his shoulder perch. "He said that one of them showed us where his apartment was. Maybe the other one will be able to tell us how we can make some money around here."

"I somehow doubt that, Dax," the teen stated as he took both pieces of the gun into one hand and plucked one of the cards with the other. "Then again, with all the great things the guys just handed us, I wouldn't be surprised if one of these really did say something about it. How about we just make our way to the apartment he just gave to us? I don't know about you, but I don't want to be carrying around this big gun and draw more attention to myself today."

"Yeah, I guess that'd be the best idea here," the Ottsel admitted as he took a quick look at the remaining card in his hand and read it. "Hmm, this place isn't too far from here according to this. If I'm reading this right, it's only a couple of streets into the city from here. The only reason I know this is because buff guy actually took the time to write us out a map on the back of this."

"Boy, I still can't believe that Sig was nice enough to give us not only his old apartment that he said he's about to leave from but also one of his own personal guns, as well. He was right; this _is_ one of the luckiest days of our lives. I still can't believe that he actually trusts us so easily after saving us and talking for only a few minutes. I guess that there are a couple of friendly people here in this city that actually care about what's happening around them. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to find somebody like him around."

"Well, I guess the muscle-head wasn't a half-bad person. We _do_ owe him our lives after he saved mines and pretty much yours at the same time. I swear, I really thought that was going to be the end of me there before he showed up. If I'm ever that close to death again, I'm probably going to die from the pressure before those KG brutes actually kill me themselves."

"Please don't say things like that Dax. You never know when things like that will come back and bite you in the tail. Let's just hurry up and get to that apartment before we're cornered by the KG again. I really don't want to get sucked into another problem by them again."

"Alright, fine," Daxter said with a sigh as he stopped trying to stir up less-than memorable memories. Instead, he chose to look at the card that Sig said would lead them to his apartment that he had just given them. "I'll read the directions off of the card he gave us and you'll walk us there, okay? I still can't believe he actually just gave us his apartment like that right after saving my tail. Make sure you don't trip over anything or get yourself lost along the way."

"Trust me; the only way I can possibly get lost with you standing directly by my ear and giving me directions is if you decide to give them out to me wrong," Jak stated in a teasing tone, earning him a small annoyed growl and light thump on his shoulder from the Ottsel's foot. "Make sure you read everything off of that card correctly. If you just worry about that, then I'll make sure that I don't trip over anything. It's not as though I ever trip on things while I walk, anyway."

After this small bickering between them came to pass, the animal began to read off the hastily written directions to the apartment while Jak tried to follow it. Despite holding two pieces of a gun in his hands, they did not attract as much attention as the teen thought they would. Still, he felt a bit uncomfortable holding something like that out in plain view for the whole world to see. At least he knew that he would be able to protect himself better in case the Krimson Guard decided to attack them again; that is taking into account after he figures out how to assemble the weapon.


	10. A Turn for the Better

Hello, everybody. Sorry for the slightly long wait of a week. I was on vacation last week, so I couldn't really update my the story. I hope this chapter was worth the wait, though. Thank you for being patient and I hope that you enjoy this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review.

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Chapter 10: A Turn for the Better**

After spending a few minutes maneuvering through the streets of Haven City and dodging a couple of seemingly patrolling Krimson Guard members along the way, Jak and Daxter soon made it to their destination, the apartment that Sig, a man who they had just met and gave them free reign over his apartment, directed them to. It was just few blocks away from the harbor, just as he had written on the back of one of the cards. The address also matched that on the card's front, thereby confirming that the two had arrived in front of the right building that they could now officially call their hideaway spot from the ever persistent Krimson Guard soldiers.

"So this is the place that we're probably going to be calling home for a while, huh?" Daxter said thoughtfully as he studied the structure of the building. It was made out of metal, which did not come as much of a surprise to him. After all, most of the streets around them was made out of the same damn material. A couple of small red flashing beacon-like objects stood beside the entrance, probably to help illuminate the doorway when it got dark since he could not see anything else that could constitute as a street light. Then again, he did not know how this city worked on an everyday basis, so he could have easily been seeing certain things without knowing it.

"It looks like a pretty good place to hang out, if the fact that the outer walls look all shiny and new without any dents in it like all the others we've already passed by mean anything," he said as he continued to survey the building and the area around it. He was already slowly starting to really like the place before he even entered the place. "It definitely is a place that we can hide out and away from those crazy red-armored idiots. Whoever owns this place really knows how to take good care of it. Either that or this is just one of the newer buildings these people made."

"Ever heard the expression that it's not what's on the outside that matters the most?" Jak asked as he crossed his arms a bit and looked up to see a woman waving a cloth out of her window. Visible dust particles were seen flying off of it and into the sky above. "It may look alright from where we're standing out here, but it could be a totally different story the moment we set foot in there. For all we know, we could be walking right into a building that's just waiting for the right moment to collapse with everybody in it. This thing could potentially be a silent killer, just waiting for one small storm to come around and knock it to the ground with us in it."

"Ever the morbid one when it comes to things like this, aren't you big guy?" the Ottsel stated sarcastically with an equally sarcastic sigh as he tucked the card into the teen's collar before jumping off from his shoulder. After his padded feet made nearly soundless contact with the ground, he continued, "I'm the one who usually complains about things like this. And you're going on complaining about me when I started to delve back into what had just happened to us back in the harbor a few minutes ago. And yes, I have heard of that expression before; but I never heard of it being used to describe things other than people."

"Well, there's always got to be a first time for everything, Dax," the blond replied with a small shrug of his shoulders before reaching up to take the card out from his shirt collar and putting it into his pocket. He felt his hand brush against the other one that was already in his pocket, but he paid it no mind and quickly brought his hand out. "Just like there was a first for me being able to actually talk for the first time in my entire life. Now I'll bet that was a real surprise for you just as it was for me."

"You can say that again buddy. I still can't believe that you're able to talk like a normal person now, not that you weren't already a normal person to begin with," he added as a little side note and smile to the teen. "It's probably been less than an hour ago since you first started being able to run your mouth around without me having to say stuff for you. Either the Green Eco that I used to fix that head of yours earlier had something special mixed into it and managed to makes its way to your brain or that blow you took did more good than harm."

"Well, then I guess I have to thank that Krimson Guard for doing that to me. You know, I've always wondered how talking was going to feel like. I always used to imagine the feeling of making my own words with my own mouth. Now that I can do it, it feels pretty amazing and dull all at the same time. I know that it sounds weird and doesn't make any sense, but that's just how I feel about all this. It's almost as though as if I've already been talking for my whole life."

"Hey, there's nothing weird about how you feel about talking Jak. That's pretty much the same way I feel now that everything has had a chance to calm down a bit. Maybe that's why things like this don't seem as surprising as they should be. If you think about it, we've been busy being thrown around from one hectic thing to another that we could care less about anything besides our own lives and surviving. After all those crazy things get blown away with the wind, other stuff just don't seem to be very exciting anymore. It's either that or the hype about you being able to talk wasn't what we thought it was going to be."

"…Yeah, I guess you could be right on that," Jak said with a small sigh after a short pause to consider what he had just heard. He then made his way towards the apartment complex doors. "At this point though, I don't really care much about it. All I care about now is to get into our newly obtained apartment, courtesy of our new friend Sig, and get some well-deserved rest and relaxation. I really got to thank him for this the next time I run into him."

"Now that is the greatest idea I've ever heard the entire day," Daxter happily agreed as he felt a slight cool breeze hit his face upon the opening of the automatic door. "I'm sure the both of us deserve this nice little break after what we've already been through. I'm telling you, I've never seen a more wild welcome party in my whole life. Even the birthday parties I tend to throw for you on the beach back at home weren't this crazy or deadly."

"It was the most wild welcoming party of _our_ lives," the teen repeated with a couple of changes in his choice of words as he heard the door softly shut behind him. "Don't forget; we almost never do anything by ourselves. It's been like that ever since we were little. So whatever you feel about something, it's more or less likely that I would feel the same way. Although, there might be a couple of things that I can't really agree with you on."

"Of course there's bound to be a few things that you just can't agree with me on," the Ottsel stated in the same tone he used when they were still talking outside, causing the few people that were silently doing whatever it was they were doing inside to turn their heads at them in order to see what the sudden commotion was about. "I think it makes us even better friends when we have our disagreements on a couple of things. It tends to give a bit of color to our friendship and lives that way, don't you think?"

"Dax, tone it down!" the blond reminded his animal friend in a quiet and demanding hiss as he gave a shy and apologetic smile to the few onlookers that were in the area staring at them. "We're not outside in the streets anymore; we're inside a building where there's a limited amount of space and not a lot of room for any loud talking. You got to be a bit more quieter in here. If you can't manage that, then get yourself off of my shoulder and feel free to embarrass yourself in front of all the strangers here. Don't go trying to take me along the ride with you. I'm not going to be with you when things get too embarrassing."

"Oh, you got to learn to loosen up a bit and live on the crazy side of life a little, big guy," the animal responded without changing the level of his tone in the slightest and ignoring the glares he was still receiving from the people because of it. "You only get one single chance to act like a kid while still looking like one at the same time. If you don't take it while the opportunity's here, then it's going to be gone before you know it. You should seize the moment while it's hot off the grill, as you already no doubt know that I always do without fail and hesitation."

"For your information, my fine, furry little friend, I do take in moments while they're still in front of me. I just prefer to act in accordance to whatever happens to be around me. I don't like to go around and make a scene in front of a lot of people and embarrass myself, unlike you. And before you go and say something else about it," he added as he ignored the look the animal gave him, "most of the moments that I've been proud of have mainly taken place while we were outside in the open wild lands and not in some cramped building like we are right now, so don't go around saying that I'm really just as loud as you are all the time."

For a moment, Daxter stood quietly on Jak's shoulder as the blond quickly walked across the small foyer section, weaving through people and various small pieces of furniture, towards what seemed to be the check-in desk. Before they completely made it to the wood stained reception desk, the animal opened his mouth and whispered into the teen's ear with a mock pout and stressed pause. "…You sure know how to severely deflate a guy's chance at some fun, you know that Jak? That's one out of a couple of things that I hate about you. And yes, there are a couple of things I hate about you, my best friend whom I've known for probably all my life."

Instead of answering his best friend's whining and inquiring about what the other couple of things he hated about him were, the teen simply closed the distance between them and the desk with a stoic look meant to conceal the smile he was trying very hard not to show. Once he was close enough to comfortably place his arms over the top of the desk, he waited patiently for a young blond-haired woman, who was talking to someone on some kind of small device, to notice him waiting. Thankfully, the wait was practically nonexistent, for the woman noticed them both almost instantly.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to cut this short," the young lady said as she gave them both a quick smile, indicating that she was going to be with them in a couple of minutes. "I've got a couple of potential customers waiting for me on my end here and I'm the only one on shift, as I usually always am. …No, I don't think they have _that_ much potential on them, especially when one of them isn't exactly…who you'd expect them to be. Then again, I could be badly wrong on this. After all, you _are_ the one who specializes in things like that.

"Anyway, I'll keep what you just said to me in mind and have my eyes peeled for whenever the people you describe to me decide to show up," she continued with a small sigh that sounded more out of weariness more than anything else. "I'll see you in a little while, big boy. And please try to steer clear of any unnecessary run-ins with the Krimson Guard. We don't want a repeat of the last time you got yourself tangled up in one of their messes that nearly ended badly."

With that quick warning of concern to whoever it was she was talking to, she turned the small device off and placed it into her plain white shirt uniform pocket. With another welcoming smile adorning her face, this time a permanent one, she quickly walked towards them, carrying with her a confident aura that they right now only saw in Sig. Even though they only been in Haven City for less than a day, they already knew that to find a person with such a confident air about them was pretty rare.

"Hello, you two," she greeted them in a kind and welcoming tone, another rare trait that was hardly seen in the city. "Is there anything that I can help you with today? Feel free to ask me about anything. Whether it's as request for an apartment room or to figure out the general lay of this city; I can help you on both frontiers. I can also give you some sound advice on how to survive in this place," she added in a soft whisper as she suddenly became wary of her surroundings.

"Well, hello there my beautiful little lady," Daxter greeted the receptionist in a sly and rather seductive tone, much to the woman's surprise and Jak's utter annoyance. God, the blond had to restrain himself from the temptation of smacking the Ottsel upside the head for doing that. The animal clearly saw his frustration and immediately pulled back his tone, but still allowed a certain playfulness to flit around his words. "So you're the one giving everybody their rooms here, huh? Boy, I can only imagine how many smiles you've made and broken by simply standing behind this counter and doing your job. It must be tough work wanting to make everybody that comes through here happy and knowing that you sometimes just can't do it."

"_Oh, put a cork in it Dax!_" Jak motioned with a quick jostle of his shoulder that easily passed as a small involuntary twitch to the girl. He did not know where he was going with this strange attempt at sweet talk, but he definitely was not planning on letting it go on. All he knew was that he did not like the fact that his best buddy was seemingly trying to flirt with the girl in front of them.

After he felt the animal regain his balance after the sudden jostle, the teen stood as still as he could while looking casual at the same time. He then said in an innocent and formal tone, "Hello miss, I was wondering if you would be able to help us out with something. You see, we were directed here by someone that we met in the streets who said that this place was an apartment complex. Is this the right building?"

"Uh, it's the right building," she replied as she raised an eyebrow at the Ottsel, who was now wigging his eyebrows suggestively at her. Jak saw this and immediately plucked him off his shoulders and held him firmly within his hands in an attempt to make him stop whatever it was he was planning on doing, then at the blond, who was trying to act like the small scene was no big deal. "This is an apartment complex and I do have the authority to rent them out to people; but I'm afraid that they're all being occupied right now. You'll have to either come back in about a week or find another place to stay. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

"No, it's alright," he said with a small smile as he struggled to keep the wriggling animal in his hands still and keep his formal composure in front of the receptionist. After all, first impressions were everything, and they probably could use all the help they could get in this crazy city. "We just thought that you would have a spare room open or something. You see, we were directed to this building by a man named Sig. He said that he had a room here and was going to be moving out of it soon. He also said that he was going to give it to us after…he took care of some business."

"Did you just say that Sig told you to come here?" she inquired with a questioning eyebrow raised at them, one that could almost pass as a suspicious glare at the two. "If that's the case here, then may I ask for your names? I'll need some confirmation before I can go around giving away a tenant's room to someone who claims to have permission from the owner. That and I find it a bit hard to believe that you just happen to meet him out on the streets, so I hope you don't mind that I ask you a couple of questions that might prove sensitive to you."

"Uh, n-not at all," Jak said with a slight nervous chuckle as he mentally recoiled a bit at the girl's sudden change in tone and behavior. Daxter simply rolled his eyes at what he considered a mood swing. "I guess I'll start out by introducing ourselves. My name's Jak, and this…wriggling creature in my hands is Daxter," the teen said as a small smirk began to show on his lips, earning him a rather soft punch on the forearm by the Ottsel. "We met with Sig after a little…incident down at the harbor. That's when he said he'd give us his apartment after we talked for a little while."

"So _you two_ are Jak and Daxter," the woman replied with a look of realization on her face as her entire demeanor suddenly softened up back to how it originally was when they first spoke. "I was just talking to Sig right when you came up to the counter. He told me that I should be looking out for you two when you came in. Don't worry about anything else; he told me all of the details. His room shall be ready for the both of you in just a couple of minutes. If you like, you can have a seat on the couch right over there while you wait," she added politely as she pointed to an unoccupied brown leather couch situated against the wall right next to them.

"Well, that really makes things a whole lot easier on all of us," Daxter said as he felt the firm grip around his mid-section loosen up a bit and took this chance to squirm out and jump onto the wooden desktop. Raising his arms up into the air as if in praise, he continued, "I didn't think that the man himself would have actually make good on his promise and act on it so quickly. To tell you the truth, I thought that he was just giving us the run-around with his too-good-to-be-true promise. That guy's not only a tough guy; but he's also an honest one."

The teen simply rolled his eyes at this comment he clearly knew to be a half-truth. He was there when he heard his best buddy ask in disbelief whether or not the man was actually giving them his apartment with no strings attached. He remembered him being relatively quiet for a short while after that. Not once did he say or do anything that would indicate to the blond that he felt some kind of distrust to the man. Then again, he was quiet for those few short moments, and there were probably a few things floating around inside his mind. Either way, he knew that the animal was only telling a half-truth; heck, he was best friends with him ever since they were little. He knew how he worked and knew most of his habits, both the good and bad ones.

"Well, that's Sig for you," the receptionist replied with a small smile as she watch the Ottsel in a slightly amused way as he made a few over exaggerated arm gestures for no apparent reason. Apparently, she had already gotten used to his unusual behavior; either that or she had quickly learned how to ignore him altogether. "He likes to make good on any promises he makes, provided that they don't get in the way with any primary business that he needs to take care of first. Trust me; he may look pretty tough and threatening at first glance, but he's really a great guy with a big heart once you get a chance to know him. He's definitely one of the few good men left in this crazy city ever since the Baron took over."

"And once again, we hear about this ever-so-popular baron whose name we don't even know and have no idea as to who he is except that he's the supposed ruler of this crazy city," the Ottsel summed up as he raised his arms up again, this time in apparent exasperation. "Jak and I have been hearing about this guy ever since we found ourselves in trouble with the Krimson Guard right when we first set foot here. Since you said that you know about a few things regarding this place, do you think you can tell us a thing or two about this baron, sweet-cakes?"

"_Daxter, I swear I'm going to kill you if you don't stop doing that!_" Jak threatened with a barely audible growl directed at the Ottsel as only his eyes, which only the animal could catch and read, reflected those very words. He really did not know why he hated it whenever he did anything that could constitute as a flirt, considering that this was his first time ever doing something like that. Was it because now was not the time to be doing things like that? Or was it because they were still young fifteen-year-old teenagers and he was flirting with a woman who was probably in her early to mid twenties? Whatever the reason was, he felt that he needed to stop his buddy's flirtatious rant before things became out of hand.

"I think I can help you out with that," she said with a smile as she ruffled, yes _ruffled_, Daxter's head, causing the blond to look on in shock as he saw his best bud seemingly enjoying the attention. "After all, I do know quite a bit about him, more than the average citizen, at least. However, it's not really safe to talk about him out in the open," she added in a low whisper as she suddenly got all shifty eyed. "You get a couple of guys in here that are loyal to the baron, so it's best if we talk once you get to Sig's room. How about you go on up and I'll meet you there later?"

"But I thought you said that you were getting things set up for us," the teen said as he repeated to her what she had said to them earlier while keeping his eyes glued on his buddy, who seemed to now be purring a bit under the ruffling. Thankfully, she stopped doing that pretty quickly and his unexplainable inner feelings were just as quickly quelled away with it. "You said that we had to wait down here for a bit while you cleaned up the room. Whatever happened with that idea?"

"Actually, that was just a formality. I'm supposed to say that to everybody who comes in here wanting to rent out a room from here. Fortunately for me, Sig's a pretty neat and trustworthy guy, so I don't have to worry too much when it comes to him. He doesn't tend to leave things in shambles, although the little stuff he leaves is really nothing much to look at. In addition to being a good guy, he's one of the rare people who actually try to take care of their own room and keep it as clean as possible, so I'm sure that there isn't going to be some kind of mess left in there.

"Besides, he has a kind of…special arrangement with me and the people he works for, so his room's not generally used much in terms of actual living," she added in a rather cryptic way as she made it known through her tone and words that she did not want to give out too much regarding it nor was she at liberty to go around loosely talking about it to them any time soon. "It's really just meant for him to rest up if he gets too dead tired or if he wants to have some time to himself away from work. Trust me; I should know about that since I'm almost always behind this counter and watching everybody who lives here pass by me."

"So I guess that just makes things better and a whole lot easier on us, doesn't it big guy?" Daxter asked with a small cocky half-smile as he jumped back into Jak's awaiting shoulder. "No need for us to wait around down here for some long and stupid clean-up job because the big guy knows how to keep his own room clean. All we have to do now is to march our way up there and get some much needed rest and relaxation. I'm telling you, we deserve it after all we've been thought today."

"You said that a few times too many already, Dax," Jak replied with a sigh as he was clearly starting to get annoyed at constantly being reminded of the day's dangerous events that nearly got the both of them killed at some point. "You've been going on about what happened to us today ever since you managed to fix me up back in the alleyway. It's really starting to wear a bit thin now. Don't you think it's time that you gave it a rest?"

"And let story of my heroics die away along with it? Never!" the Ottsel stated in an overdramatic fashion, earning him a rather large eye roll from his best friend and a confused and interested eyebrow being raised by the receptionist. "I won't let it rest until everybody that doesn't want to go about killing us here knows about what I did to save you. That way, I don't always have to be branded as a coward and a worthless good-for-nothing by people, especially by old Loghead."

"Can you _please_ tell us where our room's at now?" the blond asked the girl in an almost pleading tone as he tried to find some way to shut his buddy up and avoid any further embarrassment. He then added with a hint of annoyance in his words, "I think it's time that _someone_ here got around to taking their nap. He's starting to get a little bit too hyper right now," he said as he ignored the dirty look he got from the animal and simply jostled his shoulder again.

"Of course," she replied with a sympathetic smile. "Sig's apartment, which has now been turned over to you with permission from him, is on the top floor of this building, the seventh floor. Just take the elevator that I'm sure you missed huddled behind that tall green plant and keep to the left once you exit. Look for the brown wooden door reinforced with steel bolts and plates. It's the only one of its kind up there, so it's impossible to miss. Here's the key to the room."

"Thanks a lot," the teen thanked her with a small smile as he took the key she had taken from somewhere behind the bottom of the desk and slid in his direction on the countertop. "You are still planning on meeting us up in our room once we've settled in and you've finished down here to tell us about the baron, are you?" he asked in a low whisper, remembering what she said about a couple of supporters for the man sometimes making there way in here. He also made sure that Daxter did not say anything by shooting him a quick death glance as a warning, which he thankfully caught.

"Don't worry about it. I'll come up and explain everything to you once Sig gets here. I still need him to officially sign off the apartment to you, after all. He and I may know each other and have arrangements with each others' business, but I still have to do things by the book here. By the way you're asking me for information that should already be well known, it's not too hard to guess that the two of you are foreigners to Haven City. Am I right?"

"It shouldn't take an Eco Sage to figure out that we're not related to this smoggy and deadly town," the Ottsel stated in a surprisingly soft tone. Apparently, he still remembered what Jak's death glare at him earlier meant and kept it in his mind. "I'd say that we practically stick out like a sore thumb, if Jak's clothing and the fact that I'm probably something new to everybody here isn't any indication of it."

"Let's go, Dax," the blond suddenly said as he made a move for the elevator that was hidden from his view behind the big potted plant. He had a feeling that if he did not stop his buddy from rambling on, things could easily get even more interesting, and that was the last thing he needed right now. "Thanks again for the room," he thanked the receptionist once again as he approached the elevator and Daxter made a totally unnecessary leap towards the button that summoned it and landed on the floor in a less than ceremonious fashion. With a slight eye roll, he added, "I guess we'll see you upstairs in a few minutes then."

"Will do," she answered just as the doors opened for the two teens to enter the contraption. She then quickly reminded them of the apartment door they were supposed to look out for. "Remember, your room's all the way on the top floor. It's the one with a wooden door that has metal bolts and plates on it. It's a one-of-a-kind door up there that you can't possibly miss."

"I remember," the blond called back in a thankful tone as the doors closed right when Daxter swiftly entered, his tail nearly getting caught in the process. Jak then pressed one of the buttons on a panel that read "7" and felt himself moving slowly up the building. It was a new sensation for them to be riding in a small room that actually moved up and down, but it was also not really a frightening experience. Within a few seconds, they felt the room slowly come to a stop and heard a small ding, and the doors slowly opened up onto the floor number he had pressed.

* * *

Thank you again for being patient and reading this story. For those of you who have read some of my other stories, I'm sorry for making you wait on those. I'll update them when I have the chance. It's just that I'm kind of now in the Jak and Daxter zone. That and work is really working against me on writing. Oh well..., Thanks for reading all my stories and the others will be updated sometime. Until the next update, enjoy!


	11. Jak and Daxter's New Home

**Chapter 11: Jak and Daxter's New Home**

"It looks like we're almost to our new temporary home," Daxter said with some excitement reverberating in his voice as he and Jak exited the elevator and heard it close behind them. "As that nice-looking reception girl from downstairs said, we should keep to the left and we'll run into that one-of-a-kind door she was talking about. Let's see if she really knows this place like the back of her own hand. It'd be a shame if she accidentally led us down the wrong way," he added in a low playful tone along with a small sly smile creeping onto his lips.

Instead of answering the little Ottsel that was chatting away happily on top of his shoulder, Jak only gave a very annoyed eye roll. He did not roll his eyes over _what_ he had said. It was not really a new thing for him to make comments that were potentially border-line insulting. Rather, it was the _way_ he said those words that made him have a burning aggravated feeling inside. He did not know why he felt this way whenever the small orange animal went and made comments like that.

True, this was the first time he had ever done something like this, so he may have been overreacting just a bit. He could easily just be shocked at how he was reacting and was in turn acting in a rather aggravated fashion. Then again, he had a strange feeling that this was not the right explanation for what he was feeling. Whatever the real reason was for him feeling this way, he knew one thing for certain. He did not like it at all when Daxter made such comments, especially when they were directed to a woman that they had met not even a few minutes ago.

"Daxter, can you please stop talking like that!" the teen demanded more than asked, his voice sounding more irritated than he intended for it to sound. "I hate it when you talk to total strangers right in front of their faces in such a…a…," he stuttered, failing to come up with the right way to describe the behavior.

"Playful way?" Daxter finished with a wiggle of his nearly noticeable eyebrows. "Is that the word you're looking for? Or how about…sweetly? Better yet, how about lovingly?" he added with great tease in his voice as he purposely rubbed his furry bony elbow in the hallow area of the blonde's neck.

"Try seductively!" he fumed as he abruptly stopped walking and all but plucked the Ottsel right off of his shoulder roughly, earning him a squeak of great surprise from the animal. "Talking like that right now while the girl you're talking about is not around is already bad enough. But to actually do that right in front of her face…! I've put up with all of your antics this long, but this crosses the line!"

"J-Jak, you-you're crushing me!" the Ottsel wheezed out as he struggled around in vain and was trying to breathe through the iron grip on his small chest. Jak seemed to have heard, for he quickly loosened his tight grip yet still kept it firm so that he could not squirm away. "Jeez, what did I ever do to piss you off this badly? All I did was play around with the receptionist a little bit."

"All you did was play around a bit? Are you honestly calling it that? For you, playing around is when you're off pulling childish pranks on others that don't really hurt them and could actually make others laugh, especially me. Talking to a complete stranger in the way you did earlier is not even close to a childish prank nor was it anywhere near funny! It was only plain seduction, pure and simple. If you're ever going to do something like that again, then at least have the decency to actually do it to people that you've known for a while and actually love, not to some person who you just met today!"

For more than a few seconds, the two friends simply stood still in the middle of the apartment hallway that looked pretty tattered with the paint on the walls dirty and chipping away. Daxter stopped struggling while Jak was shuffling his feet along the severely worn red carpet minutely. The teen was visibly still fuming over the past one-sided argument; the Ottsel was busy contemplating what had just been all but thrown in his face and was trying to avoid making contact with his eyes.

Then, he did something that he rarely, if ever, did in the entire time the two have been together. The animal looked guilty. It was not the fake once second guilt look where one would hope that it would let him slip away from trouble; it was an actual guilty look written all over his face, and this really caught the blond off-guard. Never in all his life did he ever saw his best friend look guilty. What made it very convincing for him was that he knew exactly how the animal acted whenever he was sarcastic or genuine, and this was one of the most genuine moments he ever saw.

"…I'm sorry, Jak," Daxter said quietly in a tone that echoed his apology even after he voiced it. It was such a change from his normally always happy, up-beat tone; it sounded very pitiful when compared. Even his eyes were downcast and were avoiding the now quickly softening Jak's. "I was just trying to have some fun and lighten the mood. I didn't think that you'd actually get so enraged when I decided to play around with the girl a bit. I didn't mean for that to happen. I'm sorry…"

"D-Daxter…," Jak murmured out with a stutter, his anger quickly doused and being replaced with slight guilt at being so hot-headed. He was not used to dealing with people in such a way; he was definitely not used to speaking with a truly apologetic best friend. With a small sigh, he said, "Look, I know you're sorry. Out of everybody that knows you, probably only I know you so well to tell that you're really being sorry. And probably only I know when you're just playing around.

"Maybe I did overreact a bit earlier with you," he admitted as the guilt at acting so roughly started to weigh on him and he relaxed his grip considerably. However, he still felt the dislike at what the Ottsel did, only it was not as pronounced. "I shouldn't have acted so roughly with you. Even if I didn't act that way, I still would've been angry at what you did. I still am now."

"I know. I'm really sorry, buddy. You know that I'd never knowingly do anything that would hurt you like this. I know you were telling me to stop earlier, but I wasn't paying much attention to you then. I just got carried away in trying to make things more lighter and less serious. If I paid more attention at how it was starting to get more personal for you, I really would've stopped."

As Daxter was saying this, he felt strange yet oddly familiar feeling lurking at the pit of his stomach. He remembered feeling it whenever he was happy and joking around with Jak. It was always a bubbly feeling that tickled him all over and had made itself known a couple of years ago. Now, it was still the same feeling, but the bubbling only concentrated within his stomach and it made him feel sick with guilt. He cared for the teen just as much or possibly even more than he did for him. He always tried to make the blond happy without going overboard. But if he ever knowingly or unknowingly did that, which he did just now, he would do anything to try and fix things up. He'd rather try to fix things up and have his buddy still angry at him than not doing anything at all and still have him angry at him.

"I know you would have Dax," Jak said as he slowly placed his small buddy back onto his shoulder, doing so gently so that the animal would not feel frightened after being handled so roughly earlier. "And I know that you ended up getting too carried away with your playfulness to really pay much attention to me telling you to shut up. That doesn't mean that I'm just going to forget that this happened, though. How about I go ahead and cut you a little deal? I promise to try and not to lose it again like I did earlier; and you promise to hold back on your flirting until you can find somebody that you truly care and possibly love to use it on. Deal?"

"Heh, deal," Daxter replied with a small apologetic smile as he lightly ruffled the slightly messy hair. "I'll try to keep myself in check and wait for that someone special to go spewing all my pretty words on. Now that I think about it, you're right on me aiming just a little bit too high. I don't know what I was thinking when I started to sweet-talk that receptionist. Sure, she's cute, but I don't think it would have gotten any better than that for me. It's funny how just taking a little while to think about something can change your outlook on it and make you feel like an idiot," he added with a light chuckle in an attempt to break the tense atmosphere.

"Well, maybe that's something you can try out before you go and automatically say whatever's on your mind," the teen suggested with the harsh edge in his tone steadily leaving and being replaced with a very light hint of humor. He then began to continue his way down the ratty, unkempt hallway in search of a door with that had metal plates on it. "It just might end up saving your life one of these days, especially since we're in this crazy city. After all, you can never be too careful when you're moving around inside unfamiliar territory."

"Oh, you make it sound like we're in the middle of a battlefield or something when you put it like that," the Ottsel stated with a huff as they turned the corner and soon spotted the door they were looking for at the end towards the left side. "The last time I checked, we were in the middle of a crazy place called Haven City. It may act like a battlefield, what with all the crazy things we've been through ever since we first arrived here, but it definitely don't look like one. Then again, it may be a different thing for the people who actually have the mind to fight back against the Krimson Guard. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how old Sig feels about this place."

"Yeah, he did seem like the kind of person who would stand up against the KG at any time without giving it a second thought. If not that, then he was definitely a person who doesn't mind helping others even when his own life is on the line. He was also pretty good with that big gun of his, too. Did you see how he managed to actually shoot the guy that was about to shoot you right in the forehead? He must have one hell of a good aim to be able to do that without even missing. I'm sure it took him a lot of practice to be that good at shooting with a big gun like his."

"I think you have just as good of an aim as he does, big guy. In case you've forgotten, you have been using that Yellow Eco back at home to shoot fireballs at those Lurkers and all the other creepy things that got in your way while you were running around like your own butt was on fire. He was standing still when he was aiming at the guy's head and shot him dead. You kept on moving while always managing to hit your target and have them fall to the ground in a burning heap. Your aim is just as good, if not better, than his. It may be a bit…different than his, but it's still just as good."

"Coming out from your mouth, I know I can take it as a compliment," Jak stated as he pulled out the door key from his pocket just as they arrived in front of it. He then inserted the key into the doorknob, which took a while to figure out since he never really used a key before in his life, and jiggled it around a bit, unsure of what to do next. "How the heck do people open their doors in this city? I guess just settling for an unlocked door or something like that is out of the question here, huh?"

"It seems stupid if you ask me," Daxter huffed out as he traveled down the teen's still outstretched and jiggling hand and looked at the doorknob. "Now this is just a guess coming from me, but maybe you should try turning that thing one way first and see if it does anything. If that doesn't work, then try the other way. If that still doesn't work, then it's safe to say the girl gave us the wrong key," he stated bluntly.

"I really don't think she accidentally gave us the wrong one buddy," the blond said as he took the animal's suggestion and tried turning the key calmly in one direction. When he did not feel the door open up or hear anything that would indicate it, he decided to give the other direction a shot. Thankfully, he heard a click and assumed that it meant the door was now unlocked. With a small push, he tried opening it, but had no luck. Pulling it also did not really do anything. "God, I feel like a damn idiot here," he mumbled under his breath in case there was anybody other than Daxter in the hallway. "I can't even open a simple door here!"

"Hey, things could've easily been a lot worse," the Ottsel replied plainly as he shrugged his shoulders a bit and examined the doorknob again. "If we didn't know which door to look for, we could have accidentally ended up trying to open up someone else's apartment. That would really be embarrassing, if not painful should we get caught by the people that happen to live there."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that happening if I were you," a familiar female voice responded from the direction they had previously came from. "Not many people really live in these apartments. It's not that it's expensive or anything like that; it's more that they're usually reserved for some of the more 'special' people that tend to come around and do their business."

When they heard the familiar voice, Jak turned his head to look at who was approaching them and Daxter simply switched shoulder perches. They both saw the blond haired receptionist that they had talked to earlier walking towards them with a warming smile on her face. She had a certain feminine quality to her walk that practically screamed professional walk, her arms lightly swaying by her sides and her legs taking slow, medium-sized steps in formal black high heels.

"Well, hello again pretty…er, I mean, miss," Daxter greeted her, catching himself just in time before he made another come-on remark, something he promised Jak he would not do for a good while. He was clearly intent on keeping his end of the bargain, even if it killed him. "I didn't expect for you to come up so soon. I thought you'd still be busy downstairs taking care of things that only you would know about."

"Well, it just so happened that you caught me right when I was about to clock out of my shift," she explained as she stopped in front of them and quickly examined the doorknob that still held the key in it. She then said with a lightly teasing smile, "Let me guess; you're having trouble trying to open the door, are you? Don't tell me they didn't have locks from wherever you two came from."

"Uh, and what would you say if I said that was exactly where we came from?" the blond boy asked rather sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "You see, the place we came from, Sandover Village, didn't have all the things this city has, the locks on the doors being one of them. I guess you could say that it was a pretty peaceful village, and we didn't really need that much security. So I guess I'm kind of saying that I have no idea how to open this door," he finally admitted as he felt his cheeks heat up ever so slightly in embarrassment.

"Don't worry; I'll help you get it open," she said with a neutral smile, although both Jak and Daxter could tell it was only a cover-up for the laughter she was trying to conceal within her. Since both boys were used to reading each other back when the blond was still a mute, they found it very easy to figure out what she was really doing inside that she refused to show outside despite how she hid the emotion with such ease. It looked like that was one habit that they were not going to be breaking anytime soon, which would be a good thing in case they ran into an enemy that was jus as good as she was at hiding their true inner emotions.

"I can't believe that there's actually places to live outside the Haven City walls," she continued to talk as she now had her back towards them and was facing the door. "I never heard of this Sandover Village that you're talking about. Then again, I've never been outside of these walls to begin with, so there just might be people living beyond here that I don't know about. Anyway, to open the door, you have to first unlock it by inserting the key and turning it clockwise, which is what you already did. What you have to do next is turn the doorknob in any direction and simply push it open. That's all it really takes to open. It's as simple as that."

"Uh, thanks I guess?" Jak responded rather dumbly as he watched how easily the woman had opened the door for them and instantly felt like a total idiot. "Sorry for needing you to open the door for us. It's pretty embarrassing to have someone do something for me as simple as that."

"It's alright. Everybody needs help on something sometime, even if it's to open something as simple as a door. You did say that you didn't really need locks on the doors from where you two came from, right? I guess all of us tend to take the everyday things that we do for granted and always assume that it's the easiest thing to do. Oh well, at least I'm not one of those kinds of people.

"Anyway, I don't think I really ever introduced myself properly while we were downstairs," she stated as she moved aside from the now open doorway and motioned for Jak and Daxter to enter the apartment first. "My name is Tess. It's a pleasure to officially make your acquaintance, Jak."

"It's nice to meet you Tess," the blond boy said with a nod of his head as he passed her by and entered the surprisingly large apartment. The room they had just entered could easily be construed as a living room with a blue and white couch and sofa chair in the center of the room surrounding a small wooden coffee table. There was also a window that looked as though it could open and provide access to a balcony overlooking to port section of town behind it. Towards the right side stood what he quickly recognized to be the kitchen. Even though it seemed a bit more complex than the one back at home, it still had a few familiar notes that he associated with the room. Located at the left was a short hallway that he assumed led to the bedroom area.

"Ohh, I definitely like how Sig lives here," Daxter said with a smile clear in his voice as he jumped off of his buddy's shoulder and started to explore the place on his own while tentatively touching the white walls as if he were afraid this were all a part of his imagination. "He's got a big place all to himself, and he has just enough stuff in here to make it look just beyond trashy, yet not too much that it'd look way to flashy. I like it. And to think that he actually gave this entire place to us! We really are the luckiest guys in the world right now!"

"You don't know how right you are on that, Daxter," Tess explained as she watched him explore the apartment with a wide smile on his furry face. "This room is usually reserved for VIP's who come to conduct some kind of overnight business here. However, because he also performs a few odd jobs for the owner of this place, Sig got cut a special deal and was allowed to stay up here. Let's just say he took a liking to his abilities and skills with a gun; something I'm sure you saw a bit of yourself when he saved you from trouble down at the docks. After all, he did save your little buddy with that excellent aim of his."

"Wait a minute, how did you know about that?" Jak asked as he quickly turned around and stared at Tess in a suspicious way. "I don't think Dax or I ever told you about how we met Sig or how he saved us from the Krimson Guard. I only said to you that we just happened to run into him in the streets. How did you managed to figure out what happened to us down at the docks?"

"Did you already forget? I told you that Sig called me earlier. He wanted to make sure that I kept my eye out for the two of you," Tess explained as she locked the door and shot a small smile back at the blond. "He wanted to make sure I knew you were coming to talk to me about taking over his room. He knows I wouldn't give out his room to anybody unless he told me otherwise. That's pretty much when he told me how you two met and what happened just before that."

"Wow, just take a look at the view from up here!" they heard Daxter exclaim from his spot in front of the window doorway to the balcony, but neither paid him any attention. The Ottsel did not seem to notice that as he continued to press his furry forehead against the window pane and soaked in the rather nice view of the port with the now setting sun casting a slight pink hue against the hazy blue sky, indicating that it was starting to set. "This place has a great view of things. If this place weren't so smoggy and that damn wall wasn't surrounding the port, I'd say that the sky right now is almost the same as Sandover's."

"Anyway, I don't think that we really should be talking about how I knew what happened to you earlier this afternoon," she continued on as she seemingly heard what the animal said as she took a seat on the sofa. "It's starting to get late and I'm expected to be somewhere else in a couple of hours. I can't stay here too long and keep my other business waiting. You said that you and Daxter wanted to figure out a few things about Haven City, didn't you Jak?"

"Uh, yes, I did," the teen responded, slightly taken aback at the sudden change in topic as he took a seat on the part of the sofa closest to the couch. "I was wondering if you'd be able to tell us just what was going on with this city and the Krimson Guard. They don't seem to be the type that'd want to protect the city from danger and stuff like that. And what is this thing that they call Metal Heads? What are they?"

"You two really don't know what a Metal Head is? Are you being serious with me here? I think I find it easier to believe that you don't know anything about Haven City and made your way here from somewhere outside rather than you not knowing anything about Metal Heads. Surely, you've at least run into a few of them while you were making your way here from outside the city walls."

"Listen girl, we don't know what a Metal Head is," Daxter said as he suddenly hopped onto the sofa and laid on his stomach with his elbows propped up and head resting in his hands. "We don't even know what they're supposed to look like. For all we know, they could be just a bunch of metal helmets that they were talking about. We don't know what they are."

"You two really are not from around here," the blond woman replied with a sigh. Even the two teens could tell she was thinking about the amount of time she would have to spend explaining things to them so they would be up to date with everything. "I guess I have my work cut out for me a bit here. Very well; I'll try to explain everything to you two as clearly as I can. Just a word of warning, though; it might take a while, so best make yourselves comfortable if you want to hear everything before I have to leave for the night. And make sure you listen carefully. I have a feeling that things are going to get pretty confusing for you two."

"I don't think things could get anymore confusing for me and Jak here, Tess," the Ottsel stated as he moved onto Jak's lap and laid flatly on top of him while the blond immediately moved his left hand on top of him and started to scratch him between the shoulder blades. They were both used to doing this even when Daxter was still a human; it was basically second nature for the boys to act the way they were acting without giving it a second thought. As he seemingly buried himself deeper into the blonde's warm lap with a contented sigh, he continued on in an almost pushy manner, "Just hurry up and start telling us what you know about this place. I hate not knowing anything about a place that I'm probably going to be spending a long time in."

"Alright then," she said with another sigh and a small shake of her head as she mentally prepared herself for the long explanation that she knew was going to take a while. Sure, she was willing to help the two out become familiar with the city, but she never thought that she would have to explain everything to them; especially about the Metal Heads that everybody should already know at least a few things about. Oh well, she really was not that big on judging people on first impressions, and all she really could do at this point was to help the teens in any way she could.


	12. A Chance to Finally Relax

**Chapter 12: A Chance to Finally Relax**

"So what is it that you two would like to know?" Tess asked as she crossed her legs in an attempt to get herself comfortable as she began to explain whatever it was Jak and Daxter wanted explained to them. "Is there anything in particular that you're curious about, or do you want me to just go over all of the important things that you should definitely know about this city? For the most part, I know quite a bit about everything that goes on around here, although maybe not to the fullest extent as I would like. It should be enough for explanation purposes, though. Just don't go asking me about stuff that happens outside of this place."

"Uh, I guess you could go ahead and just tell us everything you think we ought to know about this place," Jak replied with a small shrug of his shoulders, his left hand still lightly scratching the Ottsel's back, who was lightly purring under the touch. "Both Dax and I have never been to this place before, so we're practically lost here. We don't know what this place has to offer nor do we know what to avoid in terms of trouble spots. We did learn the hard way, though, to always try and avoid the Krimson Guard when we really don't want life-threatening trouble."

"Sadly, that's something even the youngest citizens here in Haven City are forced to comprehend at an early age," she stated with sadness reverberating clearly through her voice. "They're taught to fear the KG and to avoid them at all costs if they really value their lives. They learn about survival, sacrifices, and death while they're still so young because they see it happening all around them every few weeks; and you have all the guards to thank for that happening. Sometimes, they learn to go so far as to hate them and try to kill every guard that they can find, something that I find isn't worth wasting their life on. They're too much in number and just trying to kill one is basically a suicide attempt. Only someone with as much training with a gun and natural skill as Sig has can ever hope a chance to survive a hostile run-in with one of them."

"Well, if I had any hopes of this place ever being like Sandover in any way, shape, or form before hearing all this, they're definitely gone with the wind now," Daxter replied as he lazily swatted the hand that was now lightly petting his back away and moved to sit up and lean his back against his buddy's muscular six-pack stomach. "Not that I had any kind of hope of that ever happening in the first place, anyway. It does sound a whole lot more dangerous, though, when you start explaining it to us like that."

"Unfortunately, that's the harsh reality of this city," she added with another sigh, this one sounding a bit more reminiscent. "A reality that I myself have lived through when I was still a young teenager. Fortunately though, I never became as violent as others tend to become. I, along with a few others, had hope, hope that things would become better and that change was soon to come. I know it sounds kind of cheesy and corny, but if there's no hope in this city, then I think that we're all as good as dead. Without hope, we'd all be bowing under the terrible rule of the Baron Praxis, a man whose not even the rightful ruler of this city."

"And just who is this baron that you're talking about?" the blond boy asked as he saw caught a small opening through the woman's now reminiscent rants to squeeze in a question and change the subject. "We've already heard his name being mentioned by a couple of the Krimson Guards when they were trying to kill us earlier. I can tell that he's the head man of this city, but just what kind of person is he apart from all that? Is he just as bad as the people he employs to be his guards?"

"I somehow really doubt that, big guy," the Ottsel stated as he snuggled deeper into his stomach and found the rhythm from the slight breathing and movement to be quite comforting. "A man who hires people to go around town and do bad things like this has to be as bad or worse than them. I mean, the mastermind behind everything is usually smart enough to not put himself in danger over something as small as city patrol and would probably only come out of his hiding spot when there's something important that he needs to do himself. That's how things worked when we were back at home trying to stop Gol and Maia and going all out against their ever-so-sucky minions; I'm sure that's how things are working here, as well. That's probably the one thing I'd say is the same between this place and home."

"Although I don't know what he's talking about in terms of comparison, Daxter's right in saying that the baron is a lot worse than his men. Despite the fact that he mainly stays within the confides of the palace, the orders he relays to his men more than make up for his lack of public appearances. If he can create chaos through only his verbal orders, then I can only imagine just how much worse it'd be if he were the one to actually carry out his own wishes. He's a merciless man who would do anything without much regard for the people, and that's not including the fact that the only thing he is doing for us is keeping us safe from the Metal Heads. Speaking of such, the only time the man's ever made himself visible to the general public was when he held a public speech a few months ago regarding the situation with the creatures."

"And what exactly are these Metal Heads supposed to be?" Jak asked as he tried not to make any sudden movements in fear that his buddy might get surprised and end up hurting himself. "We've heard of them a few times today already, but we don't really know anything about them except their name. If I were to take a guess at how you and the Krimson Guards that captured me earlier mentioned them though, then I would say that they're anything but a friendly bunch of…whatever it is that they're supposed to be. It sounded as though they were at war with them and were trying their best to keep them from getting into this town. You make it sound like they're things that should be reckoned with. Just what in the world are they?"

"Metal Heads are basically what their name paints them out to be. They're creatures that seem to be made of metal and come in a variety of forms. They always have their sights on us and try everyday to break through the defenses the baron has set up around the city and kill us. We don't know why they're so intent on trying to kill us; all we know is that the moment the baron's defenses, which is probably the only good thing he's done for all of us, goes down, then we're all as good as Metal Head meat. Note that not many people in this city have access information such as this. I just happen to be one of the lucky few to have such a privilege, so consider yourselves lucky that I'm able to relay this kind of info to you two.

"And let me just add something as a little side-note before one of you start asking me about how I know all this when I'm theoretically not supposed to," Tess added and made a move for the kitchen, the pair moving slightly from their positions so they could keep their eyes on her. "If you were to ask some random person in the streets about Metal Heads, they would more or less likely know nothing concerning them. The only reason I know of them is because of a connection I have with Sig, who, in turn, has connections with the people he works with."

"That really wasn't what I was going to say," the blond stated before giving off a small shrug of his shoulders. "Then again, I guess it's good to know that you're really reliable in terms of giving and receiving information. So you just happen to be one of the few who managed to get their hands on a reliable source for things such as this. If you don't mind me asking, just who or where do you figure these things out from? I'm almost sure that it'd have to be either someone with access to this palace you spoke of earlier or who has free reign both inside and out of the city walls."

"I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to say anything regarding that," she stated with an apologetic tone as they heard her mess around with some of the stuff in the kitchen. "It's a bit too detailed for discussion's sake, and my sources, as well as myself, prefer to keep themselves hidden as much as possible from the general public. It's a safety concern in that they don't want to risk losing their only current source of info that has any regard to the baron. Think of it as a trump card that they don't want to give away except to their own members.

"Anyway, I don't know about you two, but all this explanation is making me a bit thirsty right now. Would you two like me to make you something to drink while I'm in here?" the woman asked as they heard cupboards opening and closing inside the kitchen along with the sounds of things being moved. "I think Sig kept a box of coffee or tea around somewhere for whenever he had company visiting him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we drank some of his stuff. He did trusted you two with this apartment after all, so most of these things in here should be yours now. That's considering that he doesn't come with a list of things he wants to take with him, of course."

"I guess the two of us _could_ go down for something to drink," Daxter said, quickly getting up from his leaning position and stood on the arm of the couch nearest Jak as he thought about what he wanted to drink. Jak merely shrugged at the thought, apparently not really caring about his slightly dry mouth right now. "We haven't had anything to eat, much less drink, ever since we crash-landed in this crazy killer city. You said the big guy had some coffee lying around in this apartment, right? In that case, I'll be more than happy to try out some of his pick-me-ups and…"

"I think we'll both go with the tea, Tess," the blond boy quickly butted in before the Ottsel could finish his sentence, earning him a sharp and slightly peeved glare from the animal. "As much as I would like to shoot for some coffee and let the caffeine rush through my system, I don't think I can really handle something like that right now. After all, combined with the fact that I've been captured upon arrival and nearly killed almost an hour ago back at the port, I've had just about enough adrenaline rushes today as I can stand. I'm sure Dax here will agree with me on that, too."

"Alright then, it should be ready in a few minutes," she said as they heard her turn on the water and fill what they assumed to be a kettle. They then heard it turn off and the light sound of something being placed on top of something else. "I'll be in here watching the water and making sure it doesn't decide to go crazy. It's happened to me once before and I rather not have a repeat of that. I ended up completely ruining my electric stove because the hot water somehow entered the device and short-circuited the chips. It was smoking pretty badly; I thought that it was going to blow up on me. Anyway, I'll be back with you to continue discussing about what you should know about Haven City once I'm done with this, okay?"

"That's alright with me," Jak replied plainly as he stared back at his best buddy, who was still standing on the arm of the sofa glaring at him. Being that this was a look he normally received whenever he said something that the animal did not like, he simply ignored it altogether and pretended that everything was alright. Considering that it was his best buddy that he knew for such a long time who was making the face, he knew that things _were_, for the most part, alright. "I've got a couple of things that I wanted to talk about to Daxter privately, anyway. You just go ahead and take your time in there. I don't want you go ruining this stove and leave us with nothing to cook on or with," he added in a teasing tone, a light chuckle emanating from the kitchen and telling him that his light joke was well received. "That'll just make life harder on us."

"No need to rush, huh?" Daxter stated more than asked, still peeved at being so suddenly cut off earlier. "Apparently, it must be something pretty important you want to say to me if you don't her to be done quickly. And I don't know just what it is that you're thinking, but I'm sure you remember that I don't really like to drink tea. It's either that or you really got some damage to your head from earlier, which I don't think is true, by the way. Why'd you cut me off right before I was going to ask for some coffee? I can understand if you don't want any, but you don't have to go ahead and keep me away from it. I have every right as you to drink whatever it is that I want to."

"You don't have to start getting all testy with me and start talking to me about your rights Dax," the blond asked in a soft tone, not really wanting Tess to hear them talking. "I know you're not that fond of tea and you'd prefer coffee over it, but I don't think that's really what you need right now. You don't need to be pumped full with caffeine and start bouncing off the walls in an over-caffeinated high. With that said, I really don't want to deal with that right now. I just want to rest and try to forget about the near-death experiences the both of us were in. That means no coffee or anything else that might make you go crazy once you drink it."

"Aww, but I feel like being a little bit crazy right now," the Ottsel whined with a pout as he crossed his arms across his chest. "You think I want to remember everything that's happened to us today ever since we got here? I want try and push it as far back into my mind as it could possibly go. What better way to do that than to get myself all hyper and stuff? It's better than going around getting myself drunk with booze, wouldn't you say?" he added as he remembered the first and last time he tried drinking a whole bottle of Samos' special liquor back in Sandover. He was all but beaten to death when the old man found out after seeing a very drunk Daxter drunkenly strutting in and around his house with a completely empty bottle held firmly in his hands.

After that quick little trip down memory lane, the animal gave off a little wince as though he was once again feeling the wrath of the Green Eco Sage's anger. It was definitely something that left a pretty good impression in his mind, even after a couple of years after it had first taken place. With a small shiver running down his spine to try and clear his mind from that, he continued on, "You know that I usually don't think much about anything whenever I get myself into a nice caffeinated high. It's a good way to forget everything that's happening around me and just be in my own little world," he said rather dreamily before sounding as serious as he could again. "That and it's a whole lot better than being in a drunken haze and waking up with a headache that even the Precursors couldn't survive through."

"_I also know what happened the last time you downed a lot of coffee without any of us knowing it,_" the blond stated silently as he kept his eyes focused on Daxter's. "_Remember how you managed to ruin Samos' garden the last time you had a lot of coffee? I still don't get how you actually managed to deform that poor tree with both Red and Green Eco combined,_" he added as he shook his head at the memory. "_I've never seen a tree lose its limbs just as quickly as it could grow them because they all of a sudden grew too heavy to be supported. You pumped the poor thing with so much Eco; it kept doing that for almost a whole week! I still don't know what it was you were thinking when you did that. The yard was filled with tree limbs after that._"

"_Uhh, y-you actually remember about that little incident after all these years Jak? Wow, I didn't think that it would still be fresh in your mind,_" the animal relayed back with a small awkward chuckle and a sheepish smile appearing on his lips. He then added hastily, "_But I swear, that was only a one-time thing! That was the only time I ever done anything that crazy. I haven't done anything as bad or worse than that ever since I limited my coffee intake to only a few cups a week and drank only decaffeinated coffee. Or was that a couple of cups a day with only one caffeinated cup in the morning? Oh, thing's have been too hellish today. I can't even remember something as simple as how much coffee I normally drink._"

"_Look, the point here isn't whether or not you've learned your lesson on how you react with coffee in your system,_" the blond said with a light audible sigh escaping his lips. "_What I'm trying to say here is that I don't want to go around dealing with a very hyper Ottsel right now. Having to keep an eye on an animal that runs on his own natural energy without any outside help is more than enough for me to handle. I promise you; if you so much as drink a single cup of coffee while we're in here today, I'll figure it out and I'll kick you out of this place faster than you'd ever thought possible and you'll be sleeping on the ratty carpet outside the door. You know I'm capable of doing that to you. Don't forget that I did it once before._"

"Of course I remember that," Daxter said out loud, now abandoning their silent way of talking with each other. The teen did not like this sudden transition to vocal talking, but the Ottsel could not care any less about it right now. He did make sure, though, to not say any key things that were supposed to be kept between them out loud in case Tess heard; he only said enough so that they understood, yet not enough for her to comprehend their conversation. "That was the only time you actually went and kicked me out of your room and kept me out for the whole day. You know that I didn't mean to humiliate you in front of the entire town then. It was just a complete and total accident. I didn't mean to bump into you while trying to run from some killer bees that hated me and make you fall off the porch steps."

"_Making me fall down the porch steps _and_ getting my pants caught on the side railing was not just some accident!_" Jak stated as his face flushed crimson red from both the memory of what had happened and the sight embarrassed anger it stirred within him, his body quickly reacting to his most humiliating moment at the courtesy of his best friend. "_And when you went to grab a hold of my shirt to keep me from falling face-first, you tugged so hard that you practically ripped it right off of me. You had me standing close to naked in the middle of the village with everyone looking. I swear, I've never felt more embarrassed in my entire life._"

"Look, I said I was sorry then," the Ottsel stated with a small sigh that the blond knew all too well was only a way to cover up his smirk. Apparently, he still thought the accident was funny, despite the fact that the blond himself thought it to have been the worst moment of his life. "I practically followed you around the village like a stray dog saying sorry to you every minute. So what if my clumsiness rendered you close to naked in front of everybody then? At least you knew that I didn't push you down the steps on purpose. Trust me; if I did make you fall down the stairs on purpose, you would've figured it out by now. Besides, it wasn't as though the entire scene was all bad. It's nice to know that you always tried to stay in shape and earn some muscle mass, even when we were only twelve. I guess that's a good way to ensure that you'll look good then and be even better looking when you're older.

"You know what Jak? I really got to get this out of my head even if I just might regret it later on," he continued on thoughtfully with a smile appearing on his lips this time around that showed he did not really mean what he said about regretting his words. Then again, almost every time he ever said something along those lines, he never really meant it unless he was being truly sorry, an occurrence that was as rare as a nearly underdone piece of steak. "You looked pretty good and cute at the same time with those muscles on display for everybody to see and your beet red face hidden away behind your shaking hands. That and the light sweat that came from your embarrassment just put the scene over the top. You could've passed as a trembling baby with a lot of muscle on him that stood out too long in the burning sun, you know that big guy?"

"You better hurry and shut that big obnoxious mouth of yours up if you know what's good for you," the teen threatened Daxter quietly, the small snarl that soon appeared on his face showing that he was not kidding around this time around. Deep down inside, though, he felt ever the slightest bit flattered at hearing his best buddy say that about him, although his embarrassed anger easily covered that up from him. "Having you to not only be the cause of my embarrassment from a few years ago is bad enough, but to also following me around like a lost animal as a reminder of that day makes it even worse. I don't need a constant reminder that everybody found out that I liked to work out a bit at that age.

"Oh, I swear on the name of the Precursors who created everything on this world; almost everyone in the village began to think that I was training to become one of the village's bullies for a while," he swore in pure frustration and a small groan at the memory he so desperately wished that they could both just plain forget about. "It was so hard trying to convince everyone that I just did a bit of exercise every now and then. Even Samos had a bit of a hard time getting me out of the mess you _accidentally_ got me into. At least I can take the last sentence that came out of you as a compliment, considering that it came out of your mouth instead of someone else's."

Without knowing it, or simply not paying much attention to his own feelings, Daxter liked it a lot when Jak said he took what he said about the way he looked back then as a compliment. It was just one of those feelings the he felt so long that he did not pay any mind to them when they so suddenly appeared. The one thing he was fully aware of, though, was the admiration he felt and held for the blond teen. Ever since they had first officially met when they were little, he always admired him in both who he was and how he acted around and towards him.

He remembered thinking to himself before they managed to get together on how weird the then young Jak was in the fact that he was smaller than most other boys his age and that he could not say a single word. He remembered how he considered the blond to be strange because of those things and someone to be avoided, thoughts that only a young child, and possibly a silly pre-teen kid along with a terribly naïve teenager, would allow to let pass through their minds. Then again, he was a strange kid himself at the time; he was the only kid there to have flaming red hair and an overbite that made his two front teeth stick out a bit and look like a pair of buck teeth. Of course, being at the age he was then, he never considered himself strange in any way.

It was only when he was being mercilessly picked on by a couple of the village bullies did his view on Jak changed. They were still young and the blond had already been a part of Sandover for a few months then. Daxter was being picked on and bullied by some of the older kids of the village. They found him to be an easy target not only because of his unusual appearance, but also because he was a pretty scrawny boy, thus making him a very easy and vulnerable target. It was during his time of need that Jak happened to walk by and witness what was going on. The next thing he knew, the then skinny Daxter heard some scuffling while he had his eyes closed in fright. A couple of seconds later, he heard the sounds of feet quickly scampering away and a couple of voices whining in slight pain.

Whimpering a bit in fright because he did not know what was going on, he dared to open his eyes in order to see what had just happened. What he saw in front of him after he did so was not a bunch of bullies hovering all over him, but only Jak who looked a bit beat up himself. It was pretty clear to him what the boy had done just now. He had actually fought against the guys that were bullying him and managed to send them packing single-handedly. Sure, he had a few bruises here and there from the fight, but it thankfully was not anything that could be fixed up with a bit of time and medicine. That, however, did not really catch his attention.

What had really caught his full attention was not what he assumed he just did, but rather the look of concern that was on his face as plain as day and aimed directly right at him. He, at the time, was still on the ground huddled up with his back against one of the wooden buildings and in his mind probably looking pretty vulnerable and pathetic right about now. After staring at each other for a couple of seconds, the then young blond stretched out his hand towards him in a friendly manner as if he were asking if he was alright. Dax had accepted the hand and he felt himself being lightly lifted off the ground and back onto his feet.

They did not know each other as well as they did now at the time, yet he still rescued him from the bullies when he could have just as easily walked away and pretended that he did not see anything. He helped him out despite the fact that he barely even knew him. He could have easily just done that, but he chose not to and instead helped him out of the situation he was in, and he was grateful for that. Even after that first wave of bullies were taken care of, he always managed to come just before another wave came around and picked on him. He could have just as easily made himself a part of each wave of bullies, but he chose not to and instead continued to help him out of those jams until they all got the hint and left him alone. After the first encounter and save, though, they had started to get to know each other better.

Ever since the day's events came to pass, the two always hung out together and have been the best of friends. It was a moment that the Ottsel would never forget for as long as he lived. He had always admired the bravery that Jak exuded whenever he hung out with him, just as he did when he saved him all those years ago back in the village. Over time, they became the best of friends, and his feelings for the teen slowly started to change. It was too small to be any noticeable at first, but it gradually grew into something that even his usually preoccupied mind could clearly notice. Soon, he felt the overall admiration he held in his heart for the blond change into a new feeling altogether. He did not know what this new, foreign feeling was, but he was glad it was there because it always managed to make him feel happy whenever he felt it tingling inside of him while he was around Jak.

And right now, he was feeling that same tingling feeling running throughout his furry little body. He felt that familiar yet foreign feeling invade his senses as he returned from his trip down memory lane, which seemed to have lasted a few minutes but in reality was only a few seconds, he felt that same tingling feeling going at it in his body. He still did not know what it meant yet, but he still felt that same happy feeling he felt every time it came. Because of this, he did not care if he ever figured out the real cause of his unknown feeling; all he knew and wanted was to be with Jak for as long as a single day would allow him to. He wanted to stick by him as much as he possibly could until the day fate decided to split them apart.

"Uh, Dax?" the teen asked as he shook the Ottsel around a bit, his previously snappy attitude gone and switched out with slight concern. No matter how testy he was feeling with the animal previously, he always immediately grew concerned whenever he started to act the way he was right now. It was most likely the protective instinct he always had whenever he was around the animal. It just suddenly appeared when he first found him back at Sandover being picked on by bullies, and that simple act of defending him seemed to have woken up a slumbering protective urge inside of him and made its home within the back of his mind ever since. "Are you alright, buddy? You're starting to kind of space out on me a bit here."

"Uh, what?" Daxter stuttered out, snapping out of his daydream and coming back to reality. "Oh, um, yeah, I'm alright, big guy. I'm as great as I can be, considering the things I've already been made to go through today. I'm just thinking about a couple of things right now, is all. I was kind of remembering about how we first met and became the best of friends and all that other fluffy stuff. I'm guessing that what you said about my words being a compliment when they come from me set me off down that path. Trust me; I don't take trips down memory lane just because I randomly feel like it. It's usually things like that that make me go down it in the first place."

"Uh, I guess that makes a bit of sense," the blond stated, unsure of how to really respond to an answer he considered unusual for the Ottsel to make. Then again, he was glad that he had finally forgotten about the damn incident; he was more than happy to take a strange answer this time around. "Moving on to a different subject now; what do you think about this place Sig gave us? It's pretty nice and has a lot of room for us to hang out in, don't you think? It also seems to be pretty safe in terms of any kind of threats like the Krimson Guard and whatever other kind of threats that may lurk out there that we don't know anything about."

"You pretty much said everything I was going to say, buddy," the animal said with a smile adorning his lips. "It has a lot of space for the both of us to move around in, it has a great view over the harbor, despite the unusual smoggy cloud above it, and it looks to be as safe as any place in this city could possibly ever be. An all-around good place for us to stay. We really got to thank the big guy for all of this the next time we see him. I mean, he practically saved our butts in both the streets and in terms of finding somewhere safe to hang out. We really owe him for that."

"That you do, little Daxter," a familiar deep voice responded in conjunction with the sound of heavy boots coming from the direction of the entrance to the apartment with a hint of a smile in the words. "If it weren't for me, you'd probably still be wondering aimlessly in the streets with the blond boy underneath your furry little feet walking around."

Upon hearing the sudden appearance of a new person, both Jak and Daxter turned their heads in the direction of the doorway and saw Sig leaning against the wall with his arms lightly crossed. Even though Tess could have heard it from the kitchen, despite the slight whistling coming from the tea kettle, she did not peek her head out to see who was the intruder. She just continued on with whatever it was she was still doing in the kitchen.

"Then again, I always like to help those who have a beef or two with the KG in this city," Sig continued on, a smile on his hardened face as he saw the surprised looks he got from the two teens. "I definitely have a space or two in my heart to help those as young as you two are get away from their grasps. That and I really liked the spunk you showed off when you were trying to handle things all on your own. Definitely something that I can admire in someone your age."


	13. Getting to Know One Another

Hello, everybody! Sorry for the long delay in the update of this story. I was busy with work and getting ready for college. It was pretty hectic this whole month. Thank you for being patient with me on this. I don't start college for another month, so I should be able to squeeze in another couple of chapters before I'm forced to slow down a bit. I will still be updating during my college, but don't expect it to come as quickly as it has been this summer.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this new chapter. Don't forget to leave a review once you've finished reading this one.

And just as a little side-note, I have a new story that I just posted. Please check my account and read it. I'll be working on that in conjunction with this one. So if one story is taking a while to update, that just means that I'm either working on the other or am planning to update them simultaneously. Hope you enjoy both this story and the other!

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Chapter 13: Getting to Know One Another**

"S-Sig! Jak exclaimed, surprised at seeing the man who had helped them out in more ways than one earlier suddenly appear inside the apartment. He did not expect to be seeing him so quickly after they parted ways; he definitely did not expect him to have entered the apartment as quietly as he had without making a single sound that would have warned them of his appearance. "Geez, you really know how to scare people when they least suspect it, you know that? I didn't think someone like you'd be able to sneak in so quietly. Actually, now that I think about it, when did you get in here? How did you manage to get in here, for that matter?"

"Ha, sorry for scaring the daylights out of you, little buddy," Sig apologized with a small chuckle as he took a step away from the wall he was leaning against and moved for the chair. "I didn't think that you'd be that jumpy while you were relaxing in here away from all the trouble outside has to offer. Then again, judging by the way the table's set up and the fact that Tess is in here with you two, I doubt that you and Daxter were doing anything but relaxing away. If I didn't know any better, she's probably helping you get better acquainted with the way this city runs.

"Anyway, did you already forgot the most important fact surrounding this place?" he added as he changed the subject back to the blonde's original question. "I once owned this quaint little apartment room and most of everything in here before I decided to hand it off to the two of you. It's only common sense that I still have the key to this place on me since I never gave it to either you or your friend earlier. And as for when I arrived here, it was only just a couple of seconds ago. I just came in here to see if you two were already here and to take some of my stuff with me."

"Well, at least it's nice to know why you decided to randomly make yourself known in the first place in an attempt to scare us," Daxter stated with an annoyed huff of his breath as he moved back onto Jak's left shoulder for no apparent reason other than he felt the most comfortable being there right now. "Well, I guess it's better than having you try and scare us with a gun pointed right between the two of us. Anyway, why didn't you just hand off the apartment keys to us when you first decided to hand this place off to us? It'd have made things a whole lot easier than to have to go through with the front desk and all that other official crap."

"I thought I just told you my reasons for not giving the key up to you," the man replied with a small sigh as he took a seat on the sofa that Tess had previously occupied before moving to fix up some tea in the kitchen. "I can already see now that you're going to be a handful. I still needed it so I could get my stuff out. Besides, if I happened to have been wrong in giving this place to you, then I'd still have the upper hand against you guys. I'd be able to just sneak in and kick you out in the middle of the night. Of course, I don't think I'll have to be doing that."

"Oh, I _know_ that you won't have to be doing that any time soon, Mr. big scary guy who likes to hold a humongous bad-ass gun in his hands," the Ottsel stated with widened eyes glaring right at the man in a way that could easily be misconstrued as anger, but in reality was just his way of facially portraying annoyance. "Jak and I are definitely not the type of people who'd go around taking other people's stuff and then start driving them insane, or at least more so than they already are. Besides, why would newcomers like us want to find a place to stay first before doing anything else? I don't know what my good blond friend thinks about it, but it doesn't make any sense to me."

"You'd be surprised at what some people in this city tend to do Daxter," Tess, who had finally managed to escape from the kitchen with a small silver tray filled with white teacups stacked together, a porcelain tea kettle decorated in blue paint with flower motifs, and a small bone china jug with a pouring tip on the top in her hands, said. "Some are actually crazy enough to wreak havoc in the city and then deciding to stay the night in some hotel or something. And for the record, this place hasn't seen any of those kinds of people. It's just something that you tend to pick up in the streets."

"And I'm guessing it's thanks to that stupid move of theirs that they ended up getting caught by the Krimson Guard, right?" Jak asked as he rolled his eyes a bit at the thought. "That definitely sounds like something that a person too confident in their abilities and luck would do. Do some people actually think that they're so good at what they do that they'd actually stay relatively close to the spot where they're being scoped out for? That doesn't really seem like a smart tactic to be playing."

"Well, it isn't as though the regular people here have much of a choice in the matter," Sig replied as Tess set the tray down on the coffee table and he immediately helped himself to a cup and poured some of the hot liquid into it along with a quick pour from the jar that Jak soon realized to be full of cream. "I'm not sure if you already heard this from her, but there's pretty much nothing within arms distance outside of these walls. Everybody's forced to live here in Haven City as if they were forced to live in a prison. With the way the Baron rules over the city, it might as well be just that. No matter how hard you try to hide, if you're not a part of a resistance group like me and Tess are in, chances are that you'll always be found by the Krimson Guard once you've done something to have pissed them off."

"A city that doubles up as a big prison in and of itself…," the blond boy repeated as he, too, took a cup of tea, deciding to skip the cream, and held it in his hands as he waited for it to cool a bit before drinking while brooding over what he had just heard. "I never thought that a city could be made into something like that, especially when it has a name like _Haven_ City tagged onto it. With a name like that, you'd think that it'd be a place where everything's fine and that everybody can afford to be themselves and stick up for what they believe in. That's definitely not the impression I got when I first heard the name. I figured this place to be the absolute opposite of that."

"Well, at least we managed to get a good look at the real side of this city before we ended up figuring out what it was even called," Daxter replied as he climbed down onto the coffee table and took a cup, which was smaller than the others left on the tray, that was filled by Jak a couple of seconds ago. He then took a sip of the tea and instantly brought it away from his mouth, nearly dropping the cup in the process. "Oww, this thing sure is hot! And it tastes pretty bitter, too. How long did you leave this drink on the fire and how many leaves did you put in it, Tess?"

"Long enough for the flavors in the tea leaves to come out and mingle with the water," Tess simply answered, ignoring how overdramatic the Ottsel was being. "Unless you wanted some cold tea that doesn't really taste like much, the hot water is a must when making it. Then again, if you wanted it to be cooler, the simple thing you can do is to wait for it to cool. And I didn't put that many tea leaves in the water. It's a naturally strong leaf. And if you don't like it, then you don't have to go about drinking it and torturing yourself," she added with a small snort.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to drink something now," the animal stated plainly as he gave the cup one small look of disgust before putting it back down on the tray. "If it weren't for a certain _somebody_ who didn't like the thought of me drinking coffee, I would have been drinking exactly that." he stated as he shot a dirty look at his best buddy from the coffee tabletop, doing it so fast that he accidentally spilled a bit of the tea onto the polished wooded surface. "I may not like tea very much, but I was thirsty. Now, I'm not so much on that anymore thanks to the burn my tongue got from it."

"Oh, quick being such a crybaby, Dax," Jak stated as he rolled his eyes at his best buddy's usual antics, although he did so with a friendly smile on his face. "If you don't want to drink it, then just don't. Don't start complaining to us about how hot it is and all that other stuff you'd naturally associate with something like this. It's not only childish; it's embarrassing. And don't go and start begging me to let you have a cup of coffee instead of this and let you go all hyper on me. I already told you earlier that you're not getting one today and I meant it when I said it, so don't even try it."

"Ahem, as much as I would probably like to continue to watch this friendly little fight between the two of you," Sig said with a bit of humor in his voice backed with a smile at the two teens' antics, "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to cut it a bit short. Tess has just told me that she was busy trying to explain some stuff to you two about things you should know about this city. If that's the case, then I hope you don't mind if I joined in on the conversation. After all, I do have a bit more knowledge about the city and the surrounding areas because of my position for the group I work for."

"Uh, I don't think you really need to ask that," the blond boy stated as he quickly disregarded Daxter's antics momentarily. "This is still kind of your apartment right now, and we could use all the help we can get in terms of trying to figure this city out. Having two people tell us about this place is better than just hearing it from one person, or at least that's how I think of it in this case. It kind of allows for me to get more background information when the same stuff is phrased a bit differently from two people who know the same thing yet have their own version of it."

"And what more do you think you can add on what Tess has already told us?" Daxter asked as he tried to drink the tea again; this time, he tried it with a little bit of cream added to it. Apparently, it did little to help the taste, and he was obviously desperate for something to quench his parched tongue and throat. Even when he made a face of slight disgust, he forced himself to down the drink before placing it back onto the coffee table. "Before she went to make this…stuff for us, she just finished talking to us about this wonderful city you guys live in. She told us about how life tends to be everyday and what Metal Heads are. She also gave us a bit of insight as to who this Baron Praxis is. In other words, she knows a lot about this city and told us a few things about it already.

"The only thing she's not saying is where she got all this good juicy info from," the Ottsel added with a suspicious look at the woman, who seemed unfazed by the rather weak action. "She only said that it came from some source of hers that doesn't want to go around announcing who they are. I think it'd be a bit helpful if she'd at least tell us where she got all this stuff so we'd be able to just go and ask them ourselves. It's better than always having to depend on someone all the time whenever we have questions about this city and whatnot."

"Apparently, she thought otherwise on that, as she should have very well done so," the man stated as he put his nearly empty cup down on the wooden coffee table. "Let me tell you this, Daxter; if you're planning on trying to ask me about where she got all this information from, you're going to get the same end result from me. Just like her, I'm not at liberty to discuss where all this info comes from for the same reasons she said to you. We rather our sources stay anonymous to anybody that are not directly affiliated with the group. And that includes the two of you.

"The only thing I will say without any kind of fear of retribution from my commander, though, is that they all come from the group that I'm working for and with right now," he stated as he leaned back into the couch. "That's where all the info on what's happening both inside and outside of this city is being generated from. That also goes to say that I know what goes on in the areas both within and surrounding Haven City. I'm also privy to certain knowledge regarding the Krimson Guard; although I don't think anybody would be as privy about them as the commander himself."

"If that's the truth, then wouldn't the same also be applied to Tess?" Jak asked as he listened carefully to what Sig was saying while sipping away at the tea that was slowly growing less in his cup. "You say that you work with this group you're with and that's how you have access to things regarding this place. Tess has been able to tell us quite a bit about the city, things that even she admitted that not the average citizen should know about. She wouldn't happen to be a part of this group that you're with, could she? It's either that or you trust her quite a lot to be giving out rather sensitive info to her, although I find it hard to believe that you'd do something like that."

"Hey, now that I think about it, that does make sense," the animal agreed with the blond boy as he downed the last of the tea in a still reluctant way before placing the cup back onto the coffee table. "It doesn't make sense that her, a seemingly ordinary person who lives in this insane city, would know so much about things that she really shouldn't be knowing about. Unless, of course, she happens to be one of the things Jak just said earlier. Then things would make perfect sense, or at least as much sense as things are ever going to get for me."

"…Humph, you're quite a perceptive guy for someone of your age, do you know that kid?" Sig said after a short pause that was probably more for the sake of suspense more than anything else. He then added with a larger smile replacing the smaller one that was still on his lips, "I like how you're able to think so clearly, something that you've already shown me when you were cornered by two Krimson Guards earlier. Sorry if I brought up any unwanted memories with that repeat, by the way. Not many people, much less teenagers these days, are able to think the way you do because of the constant fear that dominates their minds everyday. It's definitely a trait that's in short supply of and could be of great use within my group.

"Anyway, it's exactly as you said, boy," the man continued on after his words of praise, the smile from earlier still sitting firmly on his lips. "Tess isn't someone who you would consider to be just another regular citizen of this crazy city. Once you look past that, you'll see that she's really one of the members of the group that I'm in leagues with. She just plays the part of your everyday, average citizen because she happens to be on assignment even as we speak now. Even if she were someone I really trusted, I wouldn't go about telling her everything I knew about this place.

"And before you start asking, I saw something special in the two of you when we first met," he abruptly explained before Jak even had a chance to even let the question form and process through his mind. "I saw that you both held this sort of spark that I've never seen before in all of the people I ever seen in my entire life. You both hold a feeling of confidence and bravery that you can easily back up with your actions, proving your bark is just as bad as your bite, especially when it comes to you, my fine orange friend. That's why I'm making an exception with the two of you, whether you choose to believe it or not."

"On assignment while posing as a lowly receptionist at the front desk of an apartment complex?" the blond teen stated more than asked as he raised an eyebrow at the thought. "I suppose that makes a lot of sense, considering that she's probably looking into something important and doesn't want to be figured out. I mean, if that's the goal you're trying to go for, what better way to achieve it than to pose as a worker in a position that'd be most likely looked down upon to some degree by everybody? Uh, not that I mean anything on you personally with that, Tess."

"Hmm, I suppose that's one way of looking at it," Tess agreed as she took the pot from the tray and refilled her cup. "People usually think that it's easy to work behind the desk of a place like this that they tend to think nothing past it. Naturally, it would be a good way for me to go undercover under that guise people already put on and associate with the job. However, I chose this job as an undercover act for a totally different reason. And just as a little side note to you, I had the same thing in mind when I was told to find a job that was as inconspicuous as it could be."

"And I'm guessing that you're also not at liberty to go about discussing your real intentions on why you're even working here, right?" Jak asked in a slight teasing way as he felt Daxter clamper back up his arm and onto his shoulder, choosing to simply lay flat there and cuddle up against the blonde's neck cool neck, causing the teen to give off a small shudder at the sudden presence of warmth. "I suppose secrecy is one of the big things associated with your group, right? I don't think I ever heard of so many secrets generated from one person or group at one time."

"And I never heard of someone getting so exited over an animal, or very best friend in this case, cuddling up around their neck," the woman countered in an equally teasing tone. "Besides that small shudder, the shoulder Daxter's standing on is practically rolling up and down in comfort. There are three reasons as to why you'd react like that. You either really liked animals before you met him; you two are such good friends that you could be considered brothers; or you two have managed to pass that line and cross into new territory, if you know what I mean," she said with a small giggle that she covered behind the lip of her cup.

"Wh-what?" both Jak and Daxter shouted out in surprise as they stopped what they were doing and looked at the woman in shock. The blond-haired teen barely managed to place the cup in his hands back onto the table before they involuntarily unclenched around the handle; the Ottsel barely managed to stop himself from falling off his shoulder in both shock and the sudden movement by grasping onto a small lock of blond hair. It was amazing how they were both acted surprised at the same time, yet managed to prevent themselves from doing anything stupid or embarrassing which might have caused an even bigger scene.

"Are you insane or something, woman?" the small orange animal exclaimed as he regained his balance on his buddy's shoulder. "Are you actually saying that Jak and I are…in love with each other or something like that?" he asked after gulping down some air in his throat. "Even though you're joking around with us here, that's a pretty crazy thing to be saying, you know? I mean, of course I love this guy, but I don't 'love him' love him, you know? I mean, he's one of those guys that you can't love once you get to know him and how he always treats his friends like they're the whole world; especially with me," he accidentally let slip out in an attempt to frantically explain his choice of words before he could catch himself.

"What?" Jak asked as he heard the last part of his best buddy's sentence as clear as day. Tess simply withdrew from the conversation and watched them along with Sig on the sidelines. "What do you mean by that, Dax? How is it that I manage to treat you like you're my entire world more than any of our other friends? Don't you think that you're jumping to conclusions just a bit there? I like to think that I treat all of my friends pretty equally, with a couple of exceptions here and there of course."

"Oh, I don't think so Jak," Daxter said, his argumentative side starting to kick in. "When it comes to me, there's definitely more than just a couple of exceptions. If you think about it for a minute, you'll see that I'm telling the truth here. Think of all the times that you risked your neck for me compared to our other friends. Put them altogether, and it'll be me out on top of your lists of most helped. And if there was anything that you really tried to put your whole heart and soul into, it was to try and find a way to change me back into a human. I don't think I ever really seen you so fixed on something before all this happened."

"Well, can you really blame me for acting like that, Dax?" the teen asked with a small shrug of his shoulders, seemingly forgetting that Tess and Sig were still in the room hearing everything they were saying. "It was kind of my fault that you ended up looking like this in the first place. It's only natural that I'd be doing everything I can to try and find a way to fix you back to the way you were. So unless you're saying that you're not really appreciative of the energy I'm putting into helping you, I don't see what it is that you have to start whining about."

"You know that's not what I'm trying to say here, big guy," the Ottsel stated with a sarcastic roll of his eyes. "All I'm saying here is that you've been really, for a lack of a better way to say it, clingy ever since I transformed into this creature. I mean, I'm all for you trying to help me get my old body back; but do you think that you'd be able to do it without invading my personal bubble and all that other stuff everybody has set up around them? You may be my best bud and all that, but I don't really think that'd give you the opportunity to become so attached to me, even though I am pretty attractive and eye-catching," he added in a soft and almost alluring tone.

"Oh please, as if that were even anywhere near true," the blond teen stated as he rolled his blue eyes in annoyance. "So what if I seem more attached to you lately? I just don't want to see you going out on your own with the way things are with you and getting yourself hurt or potentially killed by things twice as big as you. You've already had your fair share of close calls and I've had more than I can stand already. If you keep making me worry about you like that, I swear that I'm going to end up getting an ulcer," he groaned out as he held his stomach in mock pain.

"As if you were ever the type of guy to even start giving off hints of having an ulcer in the first place. You've been in a hell of a lot more stressful situations before and you never complained about getting one. Why the sudden worry about that now? Is the big guy that I've known ever since I was just a little kid who used to always be at my rescue whenever I was being bullied all of a sudden starting to become scared?" the animal asked his buddy in a strong teasing tone. "That's definitely something I never thought I'd live to see in my entire life."

"Well, you'd be scared, too, if you were suddenly thrown to some unfamiliar town and left to fend for yourself while you're being immediately attacked and nearly killed right when you get here," the teen retorted with a scowl as he felt his cheeks redden slightly at the comment. "If that isn't any incentive to start at least fearing for my life, then I have no idea what would be. And I don't care if you don't care even a bit about your own life; I care about it just as much as I care about mine, and I care about mine as if it were the greatest thing I have. So let that be an indicator as to how much a care about you and your life."

"Uh, I'm sorry to be butting in and interrupting what sounds to be an…interesting conversation between you two," Sig butted in as he cleared his throat while setting his now empty cup down onto the tray next to the still steaming pot. "As much as I would like to continue to listen and learn more through your conversation, I think that we're starting to get way off topic here. As much as I would like to hear more from the two of you, I'm afraid that you're going to have to cut it short if you really want to learn more about Haven City. I'm expected somewhere else in a couple of hours and I really can't be staying here for too long at this point."

"Unfortunately, the same goes for me, too," Tess added as she saw the two boys immediately stop their rather childish bickering and simultaneously turned their attention towards them. "I'm needed back at our headquarters so I cam report some rather non-important things to our leader. I honestly don't understand why I have to go and report things that practically add up to nothing to him since I heard of nothing worthwhile to piece together, but orders are orders and I rather do something stupid than get grilled for not reporting in on time."

"Oh, you know that's how he is," the man replied as he shook his head slightly in agreement with her. "He just wants to make sure everything's going well around here. With all the heavier patrols the KG are forming and their more threatening antics as of late, I don't blame him for wanting to know what's going on at a day-to-day basis. That and he's probably used to getting daily updated info from his previous job before he became leader. Besides, don't forget that he said one time that even the smallest of connections between two otherwise unconnected things could send a spark flying towards the flame of battle."

"Ohh, sounds like your boss is one of those uptight people who always has to know what is going on around them at all times and doesn't like it when even one small thing's out of line or place," Daxter stated with a mischievous grin. "You hear that, Jak? If you're still planning on joining up with this group of people, then you're going to have to learn how to deal with a guy who sounds to be a stickler for details and wants to know what's going on around this city 24/7. That definitely doesn't sound like someone I'd be eager to work for anytime soon.

"Then again, if you're really still set on working for and/or with them, then I guess that I'm just going to have to learn to live with it, seeing that I'd follow you everywhere no matter where you go or what you do," he added with a small shrug of his shoulders as he moved from one side of the teen to the other in a pacing manner. As he did so, he kept moving around in a circle along the edge of his neck, making sure not to step so hard as to cause unnecessary injury to the boy. "Be happy that you have such a loving and faithful friend hanging around on your shoulders. And I literally mean it, big guy. Be happy that I even consider sticking with you through all of the potentially deadly things you get yourself into."

"And I love you, too, little Dax," Jak said sarcastically, yet also in a truthful tone, in response to the Ottsel's usual ramblings, resisting the urge to chuckle a bit at the tickling feeling of orange fur lightly running under his chin by forcing his lips to concoct a half-smile. "It's nice to know that you care so much about me that you'd actually follow me to the ends of the planet if it ever came to that. I'm telling you; I'm really touched by your unusual signs of concern for me," he added with a fake sniffle as he rubbed an itch under his nose which doubled up as him looking like he was trying to keep his nose from running.

"Oh, put a cork in it, Mr. tall, blond, and handsome who's lucky enough to be wearing a pair of pants," the animal sneered at him with a small hiss of his breath, adding slight emphasis on the part about the pants. "If I really was being all concerned for you, you'd definitely won't be hearing me talk like this the whole time. Then again, almost everything I say tends to come out over excitedly and sarcastic in a sense," he added more to himself in a sort of self-reflecting way as he looked thoughtful. "On that same notion, though, only you can tell what I'm really portraying through my rather thick sarcasm and hyper behavior, right big guy?"

"Well, I'm supposing that since you both went back to your rather amusing bickering with each other," Sig said in a voice hinted with a slight chuckle that was cleverly masked, "you don't need anything else from me or Tess. If that's the case, then I'm going to go ahead and get out of here. I really have some other things that I need to take care of before the day's out. If you still have some more questions, then I suggest that you hold on to them until tomorrow when Tess gets off of work. I'll be pretty busy tomorrow taking care of some business to be coming over to visit again. Just promise me that you won't go around trashing this place up, okay?"

"Don't worry, Sig; we'll take good care of this place just as if it were our own home," Jak assured him as he stole a glance at Daxter, who had jumped off of his shoulder and started to randomly bounce around on the floor in a hyper way. "At least, _I'll_ keep this place looking nice and clean. I'm not sure about that guy jumping around over there, though. Actually, I don't think I know him anymore. You mind taking him out with you when you leave and getting him out of my hair?"

"I heard that, Jak," Daxter stated with a slight snarl, still bouncing around on the carpeted floor with no signs of stopping anytime soon. "You know that I like to do random stuff like this all the time. It's what makes me different from everybody else, you know that? In case you haven't noticed within the last ten or so years we've known each other, I like to stand out from everybody else. I thought by now that you would've gotten used to that."

"And why is it that I can imagine that being the truth here?" Tess asked with a slight chuckle as she made her way towards the door, followed closely behind by Sig. "Anyway, I really got to go, too. I'll be here tomorrow if you two still have some questions that you need answered. Just don't go asking me while I'm on the job. The last thing I need is for my boss here to yell at me for needlessly talking with the potential paying customers. I'm telling you; that man cares for nothing but the potential money he can line his pockets with."

"In other words, wait for the evening hours before you start bugging the heck out of her," the big man stated as he reached pass the woman and opened the door, allowing her to exit the apartment first. After exchanging small smiles with each other, he turned his head around and faced Jak. "By the way, you remembered that I gave you two cards earlier today, right?"

"Yeah, I still have them," the blond teen answered as he immediately stood up and took out both cards that were resting in his pocket. Because of their stay in there, they were now bent out of shape and wrinkled a bit, but they were still readable "The one where you gave me directions to your apartment and this other one which I have no idea about. Don't tell me that you want them back now."

"Do you honestly take me for some kind of a cheap guy who asks for something he's already given out back? I'm not that crazy to go about asking for my cards back after handing them to someone. I was actually thinking about elaborating a bit on the other card I gave you before I left. If you're going to be living here, that means that you're going to have to pay in order to stay here now. And before you start panicking, make sure you read the card carefully. It'll show you to a place where you'll be able to earn some money. And don't worry about not being able to get a job there. Just tell him Sig recommended you there. The guy there will understand once you tell him that.

"Anyway, it's about time I finally got away from here," he added with a small yawn as he exited the apartment with his hand still on the doorknob. "I still have to submit that report to my commander before the day's out. That's definitely going to be a lot of paperwork to fill out tonight. I'll see you guys whenever I get the chance to see you. Remember to stay out of trouble now, you hear?"

With that warning, Sig closed the apartment door and was heard walking down the hallway towards the elevator. Jak simply sat back down onto the couch and finally took a good look at the second card that had been in his procession all this time. Daxter, who had finally stopped hopping around, climbed onto the sofa arm and tried to read what was on the card. However, due to his position, he could not see a thing and quickly grew agitated at the fact.

"What's it say, Jak?" he asked, sounding a lot like an overexcited child who's about to open one of his Christmas gifts. "Come on, big guy; just tell me already! What's so important on that card that the big muscle-head would think we need it? Was he kidding when he said it'd lead us to a job?"

Choosing to ignore the furry bundle of energy on his right, the blond continued to read the card silently to himself, making sure to absorb everything he was reading. Once he got to the bottom of the card, he saw what looked to be a company name printed in bold black letters. In an unconscious manner, he read out the words, "Osmo's Critter Ridder Exterminator Company".


	14. Osmo's Critter Ridder Exterminator Co

**Chapter 14: Osmo's Critter Ridder Exterminator Company**

"Well, this looks like the same place that's on this card," Jak stated with a small sigh as he looked at the name on the card in his hand and the one posted on a wooden sign right next to a door. Daxter was standing on his usual spot on the teen's shoulder while they were both trying to act as casual as possible so as to not alert the Krimson Guard about them. After all, it had only been a couple or so days since their near-death run-in with them, and they did not want anymore trouble. "I just hope that they don't have another place like this located somewhere else in this huge city. 'Osmo's Critter Ridder Exterminator Company'. If what Sig told us yesterday is right, we should be able to land a job here and earn us some money if we just say that he sent us here.

"You know, now that I think about it a bit, it kind of seems a bit funny how just mentioning his name and the fact that he practically sent us to this place could land us an easy ticket to getting a job here," the teen wondered with a raised eyebrow as he saw the door in front of him suddenly open up upon reaching a certain distance from it, stopping in both amazement and wonder at the sight. "I wonder what kind of connections he has with this place that would have the people here would regard his name so easily? He probably saved this place before and they owe him or something like that. More importantly, though, just what kind of things are we going to be doing here? As far as I know, he didn't say anything about what it is that they do."

"Well, if I were to just take a quick look at the name of this place and gamble on a guess, I would think that we're probably going to be killing some stuff that people don't like having around them if we manage to land a job here," Daxter stated somewhat sarcastically with a small shrug of his shoulders as he read the sign again. Apparently, he was not too surprised at the fact that there was an automated door in front of him. Either that or he just was not paying as much attention to his surroundings, which was pretty typical of him to be doing, regardless at how safe or dangerous whatever situation he happened to be in was. "And seeing that it has the word 'critter' in it's name, we're probably going to have to deal with killing small animals."

"In other words, I'm probably going to have to end up doing away with you if and when they or someone else asks me to do it, right Dax?" the blond asked teasingly with a slight tap on his buddy's small nose as he entered the building. The animal simply gave off an annoyed huff of air as response to the comment. "After all, you are a small animal the last time I checked. That and you tend to bug me every now and then. From the last time I heard the term being used, pests were things that tend to bother people a lot. Now, unless the definition for it changed while I wasn't looking and if I heard what you just said correctly, then it sounds like you'd fit the bill quite nicely, seeing as how you're a small animal and already a pest at the same time."

"Oh, why don't you go and put a cork in where that big mouth of yours is, Jak," the Ottsel spat out with a slight snarl and a roll of his eyes at the comment he knew full well to only be only a joke but determined to get the last word in this; that and he wanted to try and change around what he said without having to sound so stupidly obvious about it. "You knew what I meant when I said that we might have to take care of some small animals. And just in case you're just being a big pain in the butt and playing dumb with me here, I was talking about little creepy bugs and all of those other creepy-crawlies that people hate to look at. You know, like the small and big freaky spiders we saw in the Spider Caves back at home?

"Oh, I still have occasional nightmares about that time when you actually decided to play the crazy guy, despite all my yelling in your ear to not do that, and had us go running smack dab into the dead center of an insanely large spider's nest all for the sake of getting a stupid Power Cell that happened to be there so we could ride the stupid zoomer that Keira managed to modify through a stupid thousand degree lava tunnel," he continued on with a small shudder at the memory as he heard the doors closed behind them once the blond finally decided to enter the building. "I told you to just plain forget about it, but you just refused to listen to me and went charging on in. Now thanks to you, I still have those stupid nightmares about hordes of baby spiders all of a sudden crawling out of the walls and coming towards me with their itty-bitty red eyes glowing freakishly in the dark and growing bigger by the second as they get closer and closer. I really thank you for forcing that stupid terrifying image into my head."

"Sounds like you got a whole bunch of stupids jammed into your complaint there, don't you little buddy?" Jak stated with an amused chuckle rumbling at the back of his throat as they neared what appeared to be the company's receptionist's counter. "It's definitely nice to know that you're probably still going to be the same as always, despite the fact that we're lost in an unfamiliar city with its guards after us for no good reason. It's good to see that I can at least come to you when I want to see or hear something that I remember clearly from before all this craziness happened to us."

The inside of the building was nicely decorated with models and accessories reflecting the business's field of work. A few glass show cases filled with crystallized bugs were displayed, no doubt showing off the things they have seen and taken care of. It kind of looked like the garage Keira usually worked in, except that it was slightly bigger. A few pieces of equipment, no doubt for display purposes only, were also sitting idly to the side in a corner. One of them that caught their attention was a canister connected to a hose that read "Caution: Bug Spray." The hose connected the canister to what looked to be a metal backpack of sorts with another smaller hose that looked to be the spray nozzle protruding from the other side of the iron metal pack. Overall, the general appearance of the reception area truly portrayed what the building was advertising it could do without leaving any room in one's mind for possible doubt on the matter.

"Boy, they sure have an odd collection of stuff here," Daxter commented as they were almost at the receptionist counter. The woman behind it quickly looked up from what she was working on and looked at the pair with a smile. "They have everything from dead rainbow-colored bugs to things that they use to take care of them. If all these things that are on display in here don't indicate what this company specializes in, then I don't know what does. And look at all those bugs they have here. I wonder if those are the things that we'll be dealing with if we actually get the job here."

"Hello, and how might I help you…sir?" a supposedly middle-age woman with spots of gray hair, who was behind the counter typing away on her flat screen computer, spoke up suddenly with slight confusion as her eyes rested first on Jak and then shifted towards Daxter with raised eyebrows. "I'm supposing that that is your pet resting on your shoulder, is it sir? Unfortunately, this building has a strict rule about animals coming in here, and despite the fact that he looks quite adorable, I'm afraid that I cannot permit you to allow him inside this complex. It doesn't do well for the professional atmosphere that we try to portray and preserve."

"Uh, what did you just call me, you old woman?" the Ottsel asked, quite offended at being referred to as an "adorable little pet." Then again, he was, as of now, an animal, and he did kind of looked like the teen's pet by standing all comfortably on his shoulder looking cute. So it was kind of possible for him to have been mistaken as a simple pet, but his anger got the better of him and he was not thinking that way at all. "I didn't hear what I thought I just heard coming out from your mouth, did I? You didn't just call me his pet animal, did you old bag?"

"EX-cuse me?" the woman exclaimed in a rather calm tone. It took Jak by surprise at how she was quite offended yet at the same time sounding perfectly calm about it. She must have had a lot of practice dealing with people like this in the past, so that might be the reason why she was now portraying conflicting personalities. "What was it that you just called me, you disgusting little creature? I'll have you know that I still haven't reached the prime of my years yet. I'm not even anywhere near forty yet. And on that note, I'm certainly not someone who you can call an old bag, regardless of how disrespectful the term is. So don't you dare go about spewing insults at me and calling me an old woman, you little orange cretin!"

"Well, the same goes right back at you then, you old bag!" he countered in his usual cocky argumentative attitude, much to the blond teen's dismay and visual retorts on the matter. "Don't go assuming that I'm someone's pet just because I look like this. The Orange Lightning ain't anybody's pet! He never has been, and he never will be. You got that, woman? Never go labeling me as someone's pet ever again. And yes, before you start asking, I did just speak to you," he added with a smug look on his face. "Oh yeah, you just got totally owned here by an animal that can talk. Never mess with one who happens to have an attitude with him!"

"_Daxter!_" Jak mentally reprimanded his Ottsel buddy with sharp repeated jolts of his shoulder as he gave off a heavy mental sigh while giving off both a sheepish and apologetic smile back at the receptionist, who looked to be pretty peeved off at this point. Her nose was slightly wrinkled as lips were pursed together tightly and transformed into a slight snarl. By the way she was locking her lips together, it looked almost as though she was trying to permanently seal them shut in the process. "_What the hell are you trying to do here? We're supposed to be here looking for a job, not to raise up an argument and cause trouble! I swear; if she ends up calling the Krimson Guard on us, I'm going to kill you if they don't get to me first!_"

"Why, you disgustingly miserable little rat!" the woman said through gritted teeth and a horribly forced smile as she visibly struggled to keep her calm demeanor and refrain from creating a needless scene. "Were this any other circumstances, I'd be having the whole of the Krimson Guard down your pitiful throat by now. Fortunately for you, the company makes it a policy to not call for them except in cases of dire emergencies, and this, to my own misfortune, doesn't qualify as that."

"Look, I'm sorry about my friend here causing you all this trouble," the blond hastily apologized, hoping that it would at least help her calm down somewhat upon hearing it. "He just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, that's all. The both of us just came here wondering if we would be able to get a job of any sorts here. We heard from someone that you might have a couple positions opened, and I was wondering if the both of us could fill them."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that now," she quickly replied in a blunt and speedy fashion as she quickly returned to whatever she was working on the computer, trying her hardest to now ignore the two standing in front of her. She was definitely still angry about the whole incident and did not seem to be letting go of it anytime soon. "The Critter Ridder Company doesn't employ people, or in this case animals, who have a tendency to run their mouths and cause needless trouble with it. It doesn't bode well when speaking face-to-face with the clientele, which is something that you'll be doing a lot of in this particular field of work. That and I'm currently way too busy conducting other more pressing matters here. With that said, I adamantly deny your claim to a job interview with Mr. Osmo. So sorry, but as they say in your teenage language, them's the breaks, kid. I suppose your potentially long trip to this part of town has just been wasted, so I suggest that you learn to live with it."

"B-but wait just a minute here!" Jak hastily exclaimed, more so because he did not want another hot-headed remark to leave Daxter's mouth than him being panicky about losing their potential job due to a technicality. That and he was slightly taken aback at how her demeanor had suddenly shifted from being a nice lady to an ignorant woman. "Besides the fact that you probably do have a lot of other important things that you need to finish, you can't just refuse us a chance at a job based on initial attitude alone. Just that doesn't prove a lot about a person, even though first impressions usually are the most important," he mumbled the last few words in a near muddled tone so as to prevent the woman from hearing them and trying to counter his words and opinion. "But still! Are you sure that there's no way we can get a job here? I promise you; Daxter here will learn how to control his mouth by the time we're ready for whatever it is that we'll be doing. Just give us a chance here! You can't just let us go without seeing what we can at least do skill-wise."

"Once again, I'm very sorry about this," she apologized again in a tone that was practically dripping with so much sarcasm, a bucket was needed to catch the many droplets. "But as the secretary of this fine business establishment, I humbly reserve the right to refuse anyone further access to this building. In case you don't know what that means, it means that I can revoke any potential worker's claim to an interview with the boss for any given reason that I deem valid. And I deem your animal's rather rude behavior to be a valid reason to deny the both of you access. It doesn't matter how much you beg or what you say; I will not change my stance on this position. So if you would kindly please vacate yourself from the premises. I would hate to summon security and remove you by force. I will do so if I find it necessary, and they are not a force to be taken lightly, I assure you."

"But we were told that we would be guaranteed a job if we came here and simply asked for it." He then suddenly remembered what Sig had told him just before he left the apartment. With that resurfacing to his mind, he decided to give it a try. After all, they practically had nothing to lose at this point in the game since the woman already does not trust them enough to grant them an interview. So unless she decided to call security on them, they could not possibly be in a worse position now. "Besides, a man named Sig, who we just met out in the streets yesterday, recommended us to this place. He was the one who first told us of this place's existence and said that we could land a job here if we just came and mentioned him."

"Did you…? Did you just say that Sig recommended the both of you here?" the receptionist asked in slight disbelief, quickly turning her attention back at Jak but still keeping the hardened look on her face. "Are you telling me that you managed to run into that man sometime yesterday in the streets and he recommended you to this establishment for a job? Are you seriously claiming that as a fact right now? If so, then I'm sorry to say that I'm not inclined to believe you. I honestly find it hard to swallow the fact that you both just happened to meet by chance and discuss something of this nature to each other. It's not something total strangers off the streets would discuss right off the bat. However, if you have proof that you do know of him in some way, like say his place of residence, then I might consider believing your rather sudden claim. If you don't, then I'm not obliged to believe a single word you're saying."

"_Oh my freaking god! This woman should seriously quit her job and become a lawyer or something!_" Daxter mentally stated as he moved to the back of Jak's neck and rubbed his back against the spiky hair in an attempt to relax and dissipate his frustration at the situation. "_She keeps managing to throw all these weird technical terms at us that I haven't heard of ever since the villagers back at Sandover tried to convict this man for stealing most of the mayor's campaign money last year. I mean, the way she keeps going on and on about all this crap, I wouldn't be surprised if she was one before she decided to quit and work her old butt off here._"

"Oh, I agree with you on that one," the blond accidentally agreed out loud with a small smile before he could catch himself. The woman simply raised a suspicious eyebrow in response at the strange action. He then quickly added in hopes of covering up his mistake, "Uh, that is, I understand why you're not able to believe the fact that I met the man by simple chance in the streets and discussed all this! I guess it is rather unusual when you think about it how one would have a discussion about jobs with a total stranger right at the moment they first meet. So I understand your need for proof in order to see whether or not I am telling the truth on this matter. Fortunately for me, I believe I have the very thing that would have even you seeing my side of the story as fact rather than just a terrible conjured story."

"_Oh no, now even you're starting to spew out all this legal mumbo-jumbo at me,_" the animal mentally sighed out as he felt Jak starting to rummage through his pockets for something that he felt would help them score a few points over the receptionist on this topic. "_If I didn't know any better, I would think that she's starting to rub off on you a bit, and I mean that in a totally bad way. I know that you really want to land us this job and all; but you don't have to end up sinking to her level just to get it. Being pushy and all that other stuff that I usually am doesn't really fit you. It kind of makes it seem like you're a pretty desperate guy, if you ask me._"

"_Well, I wouldn't have to be doing this if you didn't bring us into this mess in the first place!_" Jak countered with a slight audible huff of annoyance as he continued to search his pockets for their only way out of this mess they were led into. "_If you didn't decide on having an argumentative spree with her earlier, she wouldn't have gone and say that we weren't going to be good workers. Had it ever occurred to you that she simply misread the scene and thought that you _were_ my pet? Anybody who doesn't know us would've made that assumption. That didn't mean that you'd be able to get all pushy and stuff with them._"

"Ah, here we are!" the teen exclaimed out loud as he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled out from his pocket the card that had the directions to the apartment Sig had led them to. "Here we are. Here's the thing that'll show you that we at least know this much about Sig. This is where he lives. Would a person who doesn't know this man know the place he lives at? Does this satisfy your desire to know whether or not we're lying or being truthful on this matter?"

"Ha, a card with the address to an apartment somewhere in town hardly proves anything," the woman countered snidely, although her eyes could not completely hide the fact that she recognized the location on the card. However, she continued on with her stubborn attempt at pushing them away. "I could easily just show you another card leading to another apartment in a different part of town and claim the same thing. If this were a battle of wits between us, you'd have sorely lost by now. Now, if you don't have anything else that might be worth a grain of salt, I suggest that you stop wasting my time with your frivolous attempts at swaying my mind."

"It's funny; I thought this did turn out into a battle of wits sometime ago," Jak pressed on with arms crossed against his chest and a cocky smile adorning his lips, thus surprising Daxter. Normally, he was the one to be telling the Ottsel to stop making smart-aleck remarks and drop the matter, so to see the tables being turned around for a change was quite amusing. So he simply relaxed and watched as the entire scene unfurled itself before him, almost as if he were watching a movie. "Oh well, if I can't get you one way, then I'll try a different approach. After all, there is something else on that card that might help me sway your otherwise set mind on this."

"I thought I already told you, but I guess this means you weren't listening to a word I said. It means nothing to me! I will not repeat myself again when I say this; a random address isn't proof enough that you know this man's place of residency. That useless piece of paper is nothing more than simple trash taking up precious space on my desk. You best pick it up and take it with you before I do so myself and throw it into the waste bin. There's nothing on that card that could possibly help you win this argument, so just give it up already!"

"And how can you be so sure that everything on this card is useless to my side of this argument? How can you know that for certain if you haven't even taken a full look at the entire card? Namely, how do you know that there's nothing of great importance on the _back_ side of this card? Why don't you humor me and take just one more look at this; this time concentrating more so on what's written on the back? I'm sure that once you see it, you'll finally come to see that I'm telling the truth when I said that the both of us know Sig."

"_Wow, you're really on a roll here, Jak!_" Daxter stared wide-eyed at his buddy who was refusing to let up and was being just as stubborn, if not more so, than he sometimes was. Either he really wanted this job, or he wants to get the point across that he was right the entire time. Whatever the reason was, the Ottsel continued to silently root his buddy on. "_If you keep up like this, you're sure to make her crack. I just hope you make it happen soon. I'm starting to get a little hungry here just standing around here looking like a piece of decoration on your shoulder and watching the two of you go back and forth,_" he added as he lightly patted his furry yellow stomach to further emphasize the fact.

"Alright, I'll humor you on this," the receptionist sighed, obviously tired of this senseless drabble and wanting to end it as quickly as possible as she reluctantly picked the card into her hands. "This is the final time, though! Let me warn you here; if you end up showing me another dud, I'll have security flooding this area quicker than the Krimson Guard could assemble in reasonably fashionable order. I'm through playing games with the two of you. I do have more pressing matters that I have to attend to, and you're taking away the precious time for me to take care of them."

"The same goes for the both of us," Jak replied with a very cocky smile growing wider on his lips. "Oh, and just for the record here, you won't have to be calling your security on us anytime soon. I'm confident that once you read what's on the back of that card, you'll have no choice but to believe that we're telling the truth about this. After all, you know Sig, or at least that's the impression I got when I first mentioned his name. So unless I happen to have the wrong impression here, I'm supposing that you would be able to recognize what's written on the back of that."

With a very audible scoff of disbelief escaping her lips, the woman grudgingly turned the card over and quickly browsed the contents written on it. Once she finished doing so, her facial complexion remained the same. However, both Jak and Daxter sensed a change in the aura around her. No longer was it the hostile nature that she had been exuding the entire time; it had changed to a calmer, mellower tone, although it clearly exuded her stubbornness to believe what she was reading on the back side of the card was genuine. And with one more quick scan of the card, she put it back onto her table and gave off a resigned sigh.

"…It seems as though you're correct, boy," she stated softly, the bitterness clearly being portrayed in her words as she rested her elbows on the table and pinched the bridge of her nose in order to stifle an oncoming headache. "I won't be summoning security on the two of you. As much as I hate to admit this, I can't deny that the writing on this card is Sig's handwriting. I've seen enough handwritten documents by him to recognize it by heart. That and the room number written on here is the same as the apartment number he lives in. I guess you did manage to prove to me that you were right all along. Although I say this with reluctance, you win."

"Thank you," Jak thanked her in a sarcastic fashion as he quickly grabbed a hold of Daxter and clamped his mouth shut, much to the squirming animal's protest. The last thing he wanted was for him to come up with another smart-aleck remark and ruin everything he just did. "Now that you've seen the two of us were telling the truth when we said we knew Sig, can you please allow us the chance to try our hand as workers for this company? I figure that it's only fair to give us this shot after all the trouble and hassle you put us through."

"…Just a moment," she simply replied, completely drained of her energy to argue about his cocky attitude and not wanting to pursue the matter any further. That and she did not want to continue on with the fact that she had just lost against a simple teenager in a battle of wits. It was embarrassing enough to figure out that she was wrong during the entirety of the argument; adding the fact that she lost to a teenager made it all the more embarrassing. To put it simply, she officially made an ass out of herself on this. "Let me call up Mr. Osmo about the situation, and we'll see whether or not he'll be able to host an interview with you two today."

"Thank you very much," the blond teen replied with a calm smile, finally coming back from his cocky-attitude high and reverting back to his usual calm and reasonable self. All he got in response was a frustrated inaudible grumble as he saw the woman pick up the phone lying next to her keyboard and pressing a couple of numbers on it. "Even if we don't get to have an interview with him today, at least he knows that the two of us are interested in the position."

Deciding to stop pressing his luck on the matter, he officially backed off and sealed off his mouth. He just listened in on the conversation the receptionist was now having with the owner of the company, Mr. Osmo. He kept listening for the next few seconds while trying to keep a still squirming Daxter firmly within his grips and preventing him from trying to say or do anything funny.

The whole time she was talking on the phone to the person on the other side of the line, she kept her frustrated look plastered on her face. Her tone of voice, however, said otherwise on her attitude, sounding polite and kind like she did when she had first greeted them. Apparently, she really knew how to keep her emotions in check, or at least knew how to vocally portray emotions that was a farce from her true feelings. She soon hung up the phone and redirected her attention back at them.

"Mr. Osmo will see you now," she announced as she went back to typing on her computer and purposely avoided making any eye contact with the two. "If you would just go through the doors on my right. Walk down the hallway and continue to follow it until you see a room at the end. That is where his office is located at. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to. I suggest you hurry up and make your way to his office if you're really serious about this job."

"Thank you for your patience and for giving us a chance at this job," Jak thanked her as he quickly made his way through the door, still restraining Daxter in his hands, who had resorted to aimlessly kicking his feet in the air in an attempt to dislodge himself from his hands. "I hope that I didn't waste too much of your time and you end up falling behind on your work. With that aside, thank you for taking some of your time to help us out here."

Before she could say anything else or before the Ottsel managed to break free out of his quickly loosening grip and cause more problems with the woman, he sped-walked through the doorway and into the hallway she had directed them to. It was crazy, but they were finally able to try their hand at getting a job that Sig had recommended to them after having to fight for the chance at it. Hopefully, things will not turn out as crazy as it did back in the reception area with the owner of the business, Mr. Osmo. He prayed that he was not as hot-headed and quick to lose both his temper and patience as his potentially still fuming receptionist sitting outside was.


	15. A Few Months Later

Hello, everybody. I hope you're all enjoying this story and the route it's taking so far. Thank you to all of you who have been leaving your reviews after you're done reading. I really appreciate all of the feedback that you give me, despite most of them being quite brief and not really all that informative.

Anyway, just a little fact about this particular chapter. This one was normally supposed to be a part of the chapter before this one, with the events in that one being portrayed as a flashback somewhere in the middle of this. However, I saw that it could have easily been separated into two, and that is exactly what I did here. That and it started to sound like I was dragging it on when I kept it as a whole chapter. It sure made making a new chapter a whole lot easier this time around. Now if only making the rest of the chapters for this story were that easy... Boy, the fun would really be drained out of it then. Hope you enjoy this new chapter.

And to the reviewer who reviewed to me a couple days ago about my spelling on the word "blond"... Actually, both "blond" and "blonde" are correct spellings of the word. I just prefer to use the former of the two unless I have to make it possessive or transform it into a plural, which would be when I would use the latter. Just saying that there's nothing grammatically wrong with it. It's just personal preference on it. Thanks, though, for leaving the review and trying to find places to help me.

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Chapter 15: A Few Months Later...**

"Boy, am I beat tonight!" Daxter exclaimed with an overdramatically heavy sigh as he saw Jak open the door to their apartment with a lazy jiggle of the keys that were in the door handle. "Doing all this bug exterminating work can sure tire you out. Don't you agree with me, big guy? I mean, I did figure that we'd be dealing with crazy things every now and then; but I didn't expect that the place we were sent to today would have so many bugs in it, being that it was supposed to be both a bug spray chemical lab and a bug exterminator equipment creation center rolled together. I'm telling you; for a place that creates things to kill bugs, it sure had a whole bunch of them living there. It's a wonder how most of the workers never noticed before we got there."

"Yeah, it is kind of weird how they could've missed seeing that many bugs practically swarming the place," the blond teen stated tiredly as they both entered the apartment before he shut the door behind them with a light click of the lock. "Hey, at least we managed to finish the job without any problems this time around. And we managed to do it with all of our gear intact this time around. Thank god that receptionist decided to retire a couple of days after we first got the job. She'd probably be angry once she saw us walking into the shop with a broken spray hose and a badly cracked pack in our hands. I still don't understand why she suddenly quit like that," he added with a questioning look on his face. "She probably couldn't bear the thought of working with the people who proved her so badly wrong."

Now that they both managed to get a steady job, Jak managed to get a new look for himself. Instead of the original light country-style clothing he had on when he first arrived here at Haven City, he was now sporting a flashy looking pair of blue denim pants that had metal knee guards stitched into it and held up with a barely noticeable leather belt around his waist. He also had on a blue jacket that looked to be made of the same material and was held together at his chest with what looked to be a built-in leather strap. It also came with a metal shoulder pad on his right shoulder. Left exposed on the chest area of his jacket was a plain beige short-sleeved shirt that looked slightly wrinkled yet clean. A pair of new black fingerless gloves also adorned his hands, resting tightly against his skin yet providing enough elasticity for him to fully flex his knuckles. A new pair of dark blue shoes, dark enough to almost be considered black when given only a quick glance, with metal plates at the toe area and durable blue leather straps that took the place of regular laces were worn over his barely noticeable white socks, thus completing his new wardrobe ensemble that he had made out for himself. The only thing on him that was still the same were the goggles that Keira had built for him; he still wore them proudly over his forehead, letting it remind him that he still had to look for his friends, provided that they were somewhere here or at least nearby.

His change in wardrobe, though, was not the only thing about him that changed. He also cut away at some of his hair so that it was quite short. It still held on to its spiky nature, but it was not as pronounced now that it was short. Daxter at first did not like this change because it meant one less thing for him to hold onto in case things get a bit dodgy. That and he rather liked the long locks of hair occasionally passing through his fur and pricking at his rather sensitive skin underneath it. He did, however, learned to live with the change, although he could not wait until his hair grew back to its original length so he could go back to his usual habits. Until then, though, he would just have to grin and bear it and adapt to this change.

Speaking of change, the Ottsel hardly changed in appearance himself over the few months that they were here. He still looked as orange as he did when they first came here with the nice yellow stomach and occasional stripes on his forearms, and he still had on the one-of-a-kind small pair of goggles that Keira had made for him upon him turning into an Ottsel tightly on his forehead. The only thing that was different was the pair of small black fingerless gloves on his furry hands that he had bought at the same time the blond purchased his new clothes, but that was pretty much it.

In terms of attitude, though, he did learn to be a bit more wary about his surroundings, being that he was still feeling the affects of nearly being killed by the Krimson Guard a few months ago and did not want to be in that kind of a situation again anytime soon. Actually, Jak has to constantly remind him about the increased dangers they face almost everyday in the city; so it really is not much of an overall improvement. So overall, the blond teen was the only one to have really made any major changes to himself, even if it was mainly appearance-wise, while Daxter made little, if not any, changes appearance or attitude-wise.

Of course, physical changes to themselves, or at least Jak, was not the only thing to have been altered during the past few months. Sometime during the first month that they started to officially live in here, Sig had came back with a couple of equally strong men in order to take some of his stuff with him and relocate it to wherever it was he was now planning to stay. Needless to say, a "few things" to the man constituted into taking all of the upholstery and nearly all of the furniture. The only things that were left at the end of the moving session was the bed in the bedroom, various pieces of cooking and eating utensils along with the fridge in the kitchen, and a single bronze standing lamp that stood tall and lonely in the corner of the main room next to the white curtains covering the balcony window.

Thankfully, that did not really pose much of a problem for them. True to his word, the two boys managed to snag a job more easy than trying to get to Gol and Maia's Citadel once they mentioned Sig's name to the apparent secretary of the business establishment. Apart from the childish antics Daxter exuded during their very brief interview, which almost cost them both their easiest ticket ever to gaining a job, they were put on the payroll right then and there and subjected to training within that very hour with the promise of full payment after every job that they successfully complete. Of course, their pay cut was determined by how well they performed and would be deducted if they broke anything that belonged to either the client or the business. But hey, money was money for them, and they will happily take it in any form it comes with, provided that it came from a perfectly legal source, that is.

Unfortunately, the training regimen for them did not last more than a couple of days, for when the company that they were working for ended up short-handed on staff, who else did he call on but the two newbies who had only had a small taste of what they were supposedly up against. They were thrown right into the heat of things without so much as an explanation on what they were supposed to do except for the brief order to "exterminate pests in the port side bar." Needless to say, they nearly gotten themselves fired right on their first day on the job were it not for having a boss that was as kind-hearted and forgiving as a tender loving mother, which was kind of awkward when they saw it for themselves while standing in his office.

"Hey, at least we managed to understand just what the heck we were supposed to be doing this time around," Daxter stated as he jumped onto the comfortable red couch they had purchased at a thrift store and lay sprawled out on it. "Things turned out to be a whole lot better than our very first day on this stupid exterminator job. We were so badly lost about the whole situation; there were just so many bugs around and we had no idea on how to deal with them. Let's not to mention that they didn't really give us a very good tutorial on how to use the stupid stuff before we got ourselves into trouble. And we somehow managed to break most of our equipment simply because we had no idea how to use them at all."

"Oh, I don't think I'm ever going to forget our first day on the job as a certified 'professional' bug exterminator," the teen stated with a small smile as he plopped down onto the red sofa chair that was situated next to the balcony window, which they had also purchased at the thrift store as a set, allowing himself to slightly sink into the comfortable upholstery and just completely relax the stress the day brought on. "That day wasn't exactly our greatest shining moment of triumph there. Then again, they kind of forced the job onto us a couple of days after we went in to apply for it without so much as letting us have at least a few weeks worth of training under our belts first. I think they were kind of setting us up for failure there."

With a simultaneous roll of their eyes in agreement along with a small smirk at each other, the two boys immediately thought back to their first day on the job, which also happened to be the very day that they went to their current place of employment in order to ask for details and apply for the position. It was probably the most hellish non life-threatening day they had ever experienced with each other. This place, of course, was the same exact place that Sig had suggested to them with the card he gave them when they first ran into each other at the city port just a few months earlier, Osmo's Critter Ridder Exterminator Company.

"Remind me to bring a muzzle with me the next time we have to go and do something as important as that," Jak stated after they had spent a few seconds diving into the memory pool. "I swear; you need it just for the sake of keeping that loud obnoxious mouth of yours shut. You almost literally blew away our only chance at getting a job by becoming angry with that woman after she called you a pet. It was literally all I could do to try and fix the problem you created for us. I should've just let you handle it on your own and left you behind to deal with her attitude that was just as crazy as yours is. I think that would've been the better idea instead of me having to take care of it and stress out over the entire thing."

"Hey, it was her fault for calling me your pet in the first place without giving it so much as a second thought before letting it leave that unfortunately clever mouth of hers," Daxter countered as he got up from his flat position on the sofa and sat properly on his rear. "She was practically asking for trouble when she actually called me that. Who would've thought, though, that she'd have reacted so sensitively about it? I mean, I've heard of some people getting angry over something as small as that, but she definitely took it to a completely different level. I didn't think she'd end up becoming so bad-ass about it and throw all those legal stuff at us. I'm telling you; she was a freaking lawyer before she decided to work there. I can only imagine how she treats the other people who end up coming in for work."

"She probably treats them better since they don't go about throwing temper tantrums at her," the blond replied as he stole a glance at the window and saw that it was now completely dark, sans the streetlights that shown outside. "Anyway, it looks like it's starting to get late," he observed while stretching his arms out a bit. "I don't know about you; but I'm pretty tired right now. The job we just finished sure was heck to get done. I still don't understand how so many bugs could manage to live in a place where they produce the actual bug spray meant to kill them?"

"For bugs, anywhere's a good home if they can make it into one," the Ottsel stated as he saw his buddy get up and make his way to the bedroom. He quickly followed suit after stifling a yawn. "As long as they got a place to hide away from people like you and me, anywhere's a good enough place for them to live in, even if it happens to be at a place where they could easily be killed. Let's just hope that we don't run into any major bug problems while we're living here. The last thing I want to wake up to are bedbugs crawling around inside my fur and biting me to death."

"Oh, I doubt that we're going to have any problems like that. Besides, we've already lived here for a few months now, and we haven't seen anything like that. That and Tess assured us that there were no problems with this place whatsoever. I don't think she'd lie to us about something like this. Even if we did run into something like that here, I'm sure that we'd be able to take care of it ourselves. After all, we are certified bug exterminators now, you know?"

Yeah, whatever big guy," he grumbled as they made it to the bedroom. It was a fairly large room with a twin-sized bed with blue sheets lying in the far corner. A dresser was situated along the same wall the bed was occupying. Also inhabiting the room was a wooden stained desk with a black swivel chair next to it. A computer was lying dormant on the desk along with a few pieces of paper and some pens. Most of the drawers were closed with the exception of the bottom one that Daxter used to help get himself onto the tabletop. Two lamps also occupied the room at different locations. A tall brass one stood next to a window on the other side of the room next to the bed; the other was a smaller iron one sitting on top of the table. Both had ivory white shades with blue and red flower motifs adorning the entirety of the shade.

Everything that was in this room, along with most of the apartment itself, was furnished by Jak and Daxter. With the money they managed to make over the past few months working as pest exterminators, they managed to at least properly install the place with the basic necessities that an apartment should have. Of course, they spaced out the stuff they had bought over the months because they had to make sure they had enough for rent. With Tess, they were able to have some leniency on their due date, but that did not mean she was going to completely ignore it. But they now no longer had to worry about having enough money for rent because they had just bought the last things they needed, the two lamps for the bedroom that they shared.

"I'm guessing that you're going to take a shower first before you knock yourself out cold, right?" Daxter asked as he lazily nodded his head in the direction of a closed door in the room that presumably led to the bathroom. "You can go ahead and take one without me. I'm too tired right now to enjoy the feeling of the warm water hitting my back. I'll probably be down for the count by the time you're done and come back in, so you can just forget about me altogether."

Whenever it came around to taking a shower, the two always went and took one together, or at least most of the time. They came up with this idea simply because of the problem presented by Daxter's height. Him being a two foot, ten inch Ottsel did not give him enough height to reach the handles that controlled the water. Even if he did managed to get to them, his skinny arms and small hands would make adjusting the heat and water pressure difficult. So they both came up with a way to fix this problem; they would both take a shower at the same. Not only did it make showering for the animal a whole lot easier, but it also saved a lot of hot water.

This was a good thing ever since they started living here. For the first couple of weeks that they had started living here, they accidentally used a lot of hot water before coming up with this idea. Because of their excessive use of the heat, they were forced by Tess, who said that she was forced by the owner of the building to do, to pay for the heating bill along with their monthly rent, something that was not required for them to pay. It had at first taken them by surprise that they were being forced to fork over a huge chunk of their first paycheck from their new job, but they were forced to eat it and live with the agony of it.

That did not mean that they went crashing and burning without at least trying to fight against having to pay. They had tried to get themselves out of it by explaining the situation surrounding it, but even Tess could not do anything about it. She did expressed her sympathy for the situation they were in, but all she say about it was that the owner of the apartment was fuming mad about the whole thing. She also said that he was a man who always stood by on what he said and was not going to change his mind on the matter. So they grudgingly complied with the owner's demand and forked over their rent money along with their share of the heating bill.

When they combined the cost of both the rent and heat together, they could barely afford to buy anything to eat for that whole second month of living there. That and they were forced to live with barely any kind of furniture in the place for that entire time. Tess did show some mercy on their predicament and occasionally brought them a couple of home-cooked dishes, but they felt kind of embarrassed at the fact that they had to rely somewhat on someone else just to survive. They did voice their feelings on it and said that they appreciated what she was doing; they just were not used to the fact of receiving help of that level like that. All she said about it was that men always found it hard to accept any kind of help from anybody. So with both the high cost and the embarrassing help as valid reasons, the two had decided from then on out to take their showers together and avoid that scene from happening again.

"Alright, then I guess I'll talk to you when morning comes around," Jak said as he took a simple pair of shorts and a plain white shirt out of the dresser before making his way towards the door that led to the bathroom. "Just make sure you don't take control over the entire bed when you fall asleep. Remember the stink you raised a couple nights ago when I tried to move you a bit so I would have somewhere to sleep? God, I thought I was never going to get any sleep then with you complaining me ear off and driving me nuts all night then. That and you actually suggested to me then that I sleep on the floor. Do you know how uncomfortable it is to sleep on a wood-planked floor? I like to see you take your own suggestions one of these days and try that out for yourself instead of hogging all of the bed space and making me deal with it."

"Oh, stop complaining and worrying so much about it, big guy," Daxter grumbled sleepily as he moved to the top-right corner of the bed before letting out a loud yawn, his eyes involuntarily beginning to close on him. "I'm sure that they'll be plenty of room for you on this nice comfortable bed once you come out of that shower. I'll probably end up crawling onto your chest anyway sometime during the night. So it's not like waking me up is going to be all that bad."

"Yeah, I dare you to try saying that again after you've been in my shoes and being forced to listen to your excessive complaining for a good thirty or so minutes," the blond stated as he placed his clothes on the marble counter next to the sink before making his way to close the door. "I'd like to hear you say the same thing to me once you hear yourself being a major pain in the butt like you normally are. Maybe then you'll know of some of the things I'm forced to deal when I'm with you. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if you already knew about it and just continued to do it just to annoy me," he added in an all-knowing and teasing manner.

"Goodnight, Jak," the animal growled out as he heard the door to the bathroom softly closing along with a small hint of laughter emanating from the teen. He then heard the familiar sound of the shower turning on. He allowed his sleepy mind to focus on the steady sounds of water droplets hitting the shower floor until it became unfocused and sketchy. He slowly felt his mind slipping away and instinctively curled himself up into a tight ball. He did not know why, but even before he was transformed into an Ottsel, he always liked to curl into a ball when he slept. So this action was probably more natural instinct rather than the animal instincts, like better sense of hearing and scent, he had acquired after the transformation.

His mind soon completely turned off and he was fast asleep with light snoring sounds. He did not even notice a thing when the teen came back into the room fully dressed in his sleeping clothes, climbing into the bed after turning off all the lights and closing the white curtains that covered the only window in the room shut, and throwing the covers over himself. And true to his word, he unconsciously made his way onto the boy's chest the moment he felt his weight sink the bed a bit. They were both soon fast asleep, both making light snoring sounds while resting away the stress the day had brought upon them.

* * *

Sorry to those who felt that the story took a rather sudden shift in terms of time. I couldn't think of anything to put in-between without having it sound like I was trying to fill in the gap. That and I was starting to get a bit tired sticking to the beginning of their hell and describing all of changes, so I figured a change in pace was needed.

I also decided to give Jak a new look, one that closely corresponds to when he was in Jak X. I thought it looked cool, so I decided to make him look like that to give him more of a cool factor without having to add his bad-ass post-torture attitude, which is pretty cool in and of itself but not really meant to be in this version of the story. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this new chapter.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you leave for another story. I wouldn't mind getting a couple of constructive criticisms every now and then, so long as they make sense and aren't meant to be hateful. You have been warned on that accord. It's fine, though, if you can't think of any constructive criticism and still want to review away. Anyway, until the next update everybody!

As a little side-note, I have also started to work on another story. It's already a couple chapters in and it's titled, "Radiant Path of Dawn's End", for anybody who's interested to read it. I'll be working on that in conjunction with this. Just a slight heads-up in case you notice that I'm taking a while to update this story. I'll be alternating every chapter, meaning that once I finish a chapter on this, I'll go to the next one and visa-versa. Just a little note for those who can't wait for this story and want to read another of mines.


	16. The Next Morning

**Chapter 16: The Next Morning...**

As the day's first light started to creep into the room through a small crack in the curtains, the two teens were still sound asleep in the bed, both in the same position they were in last night. Jak was still resting flat on his back with one arm under his head and the other on Daxter's back, who was sleeping in a tightly curled ball and belly-side down on top of the boy's slowly rising and sinking chest. Both boys were lightly snoring away as the sun rose ever higher in a slow manner. The covers were kicked off sometime during the night and now laid in a useless lump on the floor. It was not until the Ottsel unconsciously moved slightly that the blond teen woke up.

With a small involuntary grumble escaping his lips, the teen opened his eyes slowly as he awoke from his slumber. After turning his head slightly and stealing a quick glance at the dresser table beside him that had a small black alarm clock resting on top of it, taking note that it registered a little past seven, he lightly scooped the still sleeping animal off of his chest and put him towards the side of the bed. He did it so slowly and softly; his buddy did not even notice in the slightest that he was being moved around. He then got out from the unoccupied side with a small yawn and stretched his arms out a bit to get the sleeping kinks out of them.

Once he did that, he slowly dragged his feet over to the curtains and rested his hands on the edges of them in an effort to open them. Before he did so, though, he hesitated momentarily before deciding to retract his hands. He then walked away from them and headed towards the bathroom, deciding to forget about the curtains momentarily. He figured that the sudden burst of light might accidentally wake Daxter up, and since they did not have anything pressing that they needed to take care of later, he decided to let the little guy sleep a little bit longer. Then again, the sounds of him being in the bathroom might be the thing to wake him up, but the chances of that happening were pretty low because he was a relatively heavy sleeper when it came to everyday noises like the sound of running water and such.

Jak himself was pretty much a morning type of guy who liked to wake up right when the sun peaked over the horizon, just like it was right now. That was why he was bothering to get ready for the day ahead of him at this time. That and he always found it hard to go back to sleep whenever he woke up, which included the times when he woke up in the middle of the night. Nowadays though, he easily slept through the entire night due to being kept busy for most days with their new job at finding and disposing of small bugs and other annoying little pests. Of course, that did not give him cause to kick the habit on waking up in the early daylight hours of the day. That was still a constant in his life and seemed unlikely to be changing anytime soon.

Daxter, on the other hand, was somewhat the opposite in this case. He preferred to wake up when the sun has completely risen and has lit up everything within its sights with its brilliant glow, which would be the case in just a couple more hours. He also found it easy to sleep whenever there was darkness around him and the situation around him was safe for it to be done. Unfortunately for him, all of the excitement from the past few weeks have made it hard for him to find sleep. Being the easily excitable person he was, those crazy events easily stayed in his head and he found it very difficult to get them out and get some sleep. Thankfully for him, he now managed to find sleep by simply listening to Jak's heartbeat while he slept, hence the reason why he moved to the blonde's chest when he had the chance to do so last night.

After spending a few minutes in the bathroom brushing his teeth of the morning gunk and washing his face to get rid of the sleepy feeling dragging down his eyes, he let his eyes wander around to the contents on the sink. He soon stopped when he passed by a toothbrush that was smaller than his standard-sized one. He smiled when he remembered buying it one day as a sort of surprise for Daxter, who was complaining a bit at the time about not having a toothbrush to brush with like the one Keira had made for him when he had first been turned into an Ottsel. It was actually bought at a baby store of sorts and was meant to be used on little infants with a new set of teeth. The general size of it, however, was more than perfect for the animal and his dental needs, who happily accepted the gift with big smiles and a gigantic Ottsel bear hug around the teen's neck, which had nearly choked him out in the process.

Pulling himself away from the one of many times he had managed to successfully make Daxter that happy, he exited the bathroom and was now back in the bedroom. As he had suspected, the Ottsel was still sound asleep, although he had uncurled himself some time ago and was now lying flat out on his stomach like an animal rug. Jak just laughed silently at this scene before moving to the drawers beside the bed where his clothes were. He made sure not to suddenly open the drawers which would cause a sharp sound to emit from it and accidentally waking his buddy up in the process. That would be a good way to get an earful from a rudely awakened Ottsel, something that he always tried to avoid every morning whenever possible.

After digging through a few of his clothes for a little bit, he decided to go with just a regular white short-sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Yeah, it was pretty much what he wore yesterday, but there were not many styles of clothing he liked here in Haven City, so he decided to stock up on white shirts and blue jeans. That and they were the cheapest clothes he could find back when they were in their first month and forced to live of sticks and stones. At least they were something that he liked in a stylish sense, and Daxter had complimented that those were the only things that really looked good on him. He did have a long-sleeved shirt somewhere in the drawer, but it he only wore it if it was crazy cold outside or they had to go somewhere just as cold.

Once he had stripped down to his boxers, revealing a well fit body with nice biceps, a six-pack abs on his stomach, and nicely muscle-toned legs, he put on the clothes he had laid out for himself and placed his night clothes into the drawer. He was not at the least self-conscious about revealing his body right in front of his sleeping buddy; it would not have made any difference if he were awake. They have been best friends for so long; they practically considered themselves to be brothers at this point. And as brothers who got along well, they knew each other even better than they knew their favorite book.

With that said, they pretty much already saw all what the other had to offer in terms of body, especially since that one time they forgot their swim trunks and decided to go skinny dipping back in Sentinel Beach back when they were about twelve. It was a crazy hot day at the time they did that, and they were pretty desperate for a cool down in the ocean, so they just went with it at the time. So if there ever was anything that could make the two feel embarrassed around each other, it certainly was not stripping in front of the other, whether it was down to boxers or nothing at all. That was the last thing that they could be embarrassed about with each other at this point. If they ended up talking about who the other loved though, then that would be a completely different story.

Anyway, Jak was now done fixing himself up and was now ready to tackle on whatever the day brought on him. Actually, almost ready would have been a better way to phrase it. Since Daxter was still fast asleep and he never went anywhere without him, he was not, in his own mind, completely ready to go on with the day. After he took a quick glance at the clock and saw that it was only half past seven, he knew that he would have to wait a while before his buddy decided to wake up for the day. Oh well, at least it gave him time to think to himself without any distractions getting in the way, so it was kind of nice for him to have some alone time with himself.

Unfortunately, he did not really have anything in particular to think about right now, so he allowed his mind to jump around from one topic to another while sitting on the swivel chair. He thought about the day back in Sandover, before they were to go through the humungous warp portal and figure out where it would lead them. He thought about their first time entering Haven City in a blinding flash and painful crash, nearly getting themselves killed by the Krimson Guard not even five minutes after touching down in the city. He remembered being able to talk for the first time after receiving a pretty painful conk to the back of his head and being knocked out for a few minutes.

He remembered all of those things and then some other stuff that had happened to them within the span of the few months they had been here. During that time, they had somehow lost the interest of the Krimson Guard ever since their first meeting with each other. The commander of the group, Errol, did not seem to give up his personal search for them, though. They sometimes saw him wandering the streets, whether on official business or just on his leisure time. He once saw them a couple months after their first meeting and started to give chase, but the managed to lose him and the backup he had called in for. Apparently, he was not intent on letting them get away anytime soon and would continue to chase them whenever he saw them until he managed to capture them again, just like he did the first time around.

He continued on with his random recollections of the past for a good couple of hours. By then, the sun had grown brighter and the small ray of light protruding through the crack in the curtains was visibly stronger. It was then that he heard a slight ruffling sound coming from the direction of the bed. He did not bother to turn his head to see what it was for he already knew full well it was coming from Daxter. He was starting to wake up, and it seemed as though he was right on schedule, as he always was when it came to his sleeping patterns.

He heard the animal stretch a bit; he always was a loud stretcher, even before he was turned into an Ottsel. You could be in two different rooms and you could still hear him stretching his limbs away as if he did not have a care in the world. He then heard him give out a loud yawn before he stood on his two feet and walked rather sleepily along the many wrinkles in the bed sheets, occasionally tripping over one and falling face-first onto the mattress with a slight squeal of surprise.

Jak simply rolled his eyes at the clumsy nature he always showed whenever he was fresh from his sleep. No matter how many times that happened to him, he always managed to do it again in the next morning and the morning after that. It was almost as though he never learned from his mistakes and just kept repeating the same thing over and over again. Then again, he knew that when running on freshly-awake mode, the Ottsel's brain was never fully functional until a few minutes later.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Jak greeted his buddy with a smile as he turned to face Daxter, who still had his face planted firmly on the mattress. "I see that you're still tripping over the bed sheets and falling flat on your face. You really ought to learn how to get that brain of yours working the moment you wake up, you know? I swear; you'd probably be acting like this even when there's an earthquake going off or when a stick of dynamite goes off right next to you. You'd still wake up all groggy and not knowing what you're doing."

"Shuff up, Jaff," Daxter mumbled out with his face still in the mattress before he picked himself up. He then said in a much clearer voice, "It's not my fault that I have a slow brain every time I wake up in the morning. I'm not like _somebody_ here who just has to get up right when the sun comes out and get himself ready for the day. Out of all the things that I know about you, that's the one thing that I still don't understand. Why can't you be like normal people and get up when half of the morning's already gone? Why can't you just go and do that for a change?"

"Because I'm a morning person, that's why," the blond explained in a matter-of-fact tone as he saw his buddy hopped off the bed and make his way to the bathroom. That was when he got up from the chair and finally opened the curtains, allowing the sunlight to brighten up the room. "You know how I always liked to see the sun rising back in Sandover when I was still trying to save you butt from the village bullies. How do you think I always managed to figure out when you were going to be terrorized again? Those guys loved to wake up early, too, and plan out their day.

"Anyway, that's starting to get beside the point here," the blond said as he tried to shift the conversation back onto its original course, his cheeks starting to turn a bit red at that slight confession and the weird look he got from Daxter before he had fully entered the bathroom. It almost made him feel like a stalker when he said that. "I guess even though I can't really see it all that well here in Haven City as I did back home, it's still kind of a force of habit for me. At least the city's somewhat quiet around the time I wake up, not like how it is now with all the noise from the zoomers and the sounds of the KG pulling some of their daily stunts on people."

"I guess it makes sense a bit when you put it that way," he heard the Ottsel say over the sound of the tap running a bit. "It's nice to know, though, that you practically trying to stalk me before we were even best friends. I can't believe that you were actually being that protective of me then. I can only imagine just what was going on inside that head of yours while you were doing that. What's next? Are you going to confess that you've been watching me sleep so that I don't get attacked by monsters or something like that? After what I just heard, I wouldn't put it past you to do that."

"Dax, I was just being overprotective of you then; I wasn't trying to be over possessive or anything like that," the teen stated as he felt his cheeks redden more, mentally thankful that his buddy was not in the same room as him right now. "You know how I feel about you in terms of our connection. I was just doing what an older brother might do; I was just looking out for my little brother, whom I really care so much about, and make sure that he wasn't getting into any trouble or that trouble wasn't out looking for him. Of course, I was actually being an overprotective friend instead of a protective brother at the time. But could you really blame me for that then? You were at the mercy of the bullies for a pretty long time then until they finally figured out that I was around."

"Yeah Jak; whatever you say, big guy," he heard the animal say in a slightly gargled tone before hearing him spit out something from his mouth, probably toothpaste. He then heard the water running again along with another comment. "The more you keep talking about that, the more it's starting to sound like something out of one of those sappy soap operas that Tess likes to watch and then talk about to us. You know, like the ones where a guy is being overprotective of a girl and they end up falling in love with each other at the end? That's kind of what it's starting to feel like right now. Are you in love with me or anything like that, by any chance?"

"Honestly, do I really have to answer that Dax?" the blond asked with a slightly surprised sigh escaping his lips. "I think you already know the answer to that ridiculous question. I don't even know why you suddenly decided to bring that weird subject up. Anyway, I can see us perfectly fine as being two brothers from now until the day we die. Unless you have something that you want to say about that, that's pretty much what I see our relationship here being as, just a simple big brother/little brother relationship. I'm sure that's how you feel about this, too, right? I can tell just by the way you're speaking that you see us as brothers, as well."

"Of course I see us as a couple of loving brothers who wouldn't do anything to make sure the other's alright and happy and all that other good jazz," Daxter answered back as he exited the bathroom, his face now adorn with a few droplets of water here and there. "I just can't really see it becoming anything else apart from that. Don't get me wrong; I don't really care if you were gay and actually loved me more than just a brother. I honestly have no problem with you being and feeling like that. Just don't expect me to be returning the feeling anytime soon."

"The same goes for me, too, buddy," Jak agreed with a roll of his eyes at the drastic turn the conversation had taken. It had started out as simple talk and had somehow along the way transformed into what each other's sexual preference was. Boy, that really was one interesting piece of conversation they had there. "I don't care if you're gay or straight or whether you see me as a brother or a lover. All I don't want to see is you going all crazy on me in a fit of anger or something like that. That's really something that I don't want to be seeing, even though I've already seen it happen more times than I could count now."

"Alright, can we just hurry up and move onto something else now?" the Ottsel asked, sounding desperate to change the topic onto something else other than what they were discussing. "This topic's really starting to make me feel pretty awkward right about now. How about we talk about the things that we're going to be doing today, provided that we don't have any work lined up, that is. The last time I checked, I don't think old Osmo had anything for us to do today, unless he suddenly got a call and needs someone to take care of it."

"Well, I was thinking that we could maybe wander around a bit in the city," the blond suggested, thinking up of anything off of the top of his head. "The KG don't look like their doing much this morning, so I think it'd be alright for us to go exploring a bit. Thank god we finally managed to sneak out of their radar now. I'd really hate it if they were all like that Errol guy and were still trying to catch us. That'd mean that we'd have to be in hiding forever. And I don't know about you, but that's something I don't want to be doing anytime soon."

"Since when have you known me to eve like being cooped up inside all day long with nothing to do? The only time you'd be catching me doing that is when I'm really sick or lying dead in my bed, and I don't intend to be doing any of those things anytime soon, thank you very much. But yeah, I think that'd be a good idea to go wandering around outside. And who knows, we just might end up finding something totally new and cool that we could use to take out some of the crazy KG."

"Yeah, you go ahead and do that while I just walk away and let you take care of your own mess you made," the teen stated as he took out a pair of socks from the drawer and quickly put them over his feet before putting on his shoes. "Unless you're a part of the Resistance group, I wouldn't recommend on doing that. That and you probably won't be as lucky to find someone like Sig who'd be willing to risk their own lives just to save yours. If you are intent on doing that though, just make sure to leave me out of it as much as possible."

"Ha, some friend you're turning out to be right now," the Ottsel said in a teasing manner as he feigned hurt at the teen's words by clutching his heart dramatically. "Can't you tell that I was only trying to make a little joke there? Honestly, I sometimes think that you're starting to turn into old Loghead every time I try to joke around with you like that. I'm telling you, we only need one of him around. I don't want to end up having to deal with two of him. That'd just mean double the badgering of me to do something like clean his house and all that crap."

For a moment, Jak was pretty quiet as he buckled down his shoes and grabbed his jacket that was hanging neatly on the back of the chair. Even as he put on the jacket, he remained pretty quiet, which kind of took Daxter off guard a bit. Apparently, the thoughts about Samos and Keira's wellbeing were still nagging away at the back of his mind. They still had to find them, yet they did not even know where to start looking, considering that they are even in the city to begin with. He did not even know if they were still alive after all this time passing by. For all he knew, they could be in a bad position with no hope whatsoever.

"S-sorry about that, big guy," Daxter apologized, knowing full well that he had accidentally stirred up feelings best kept buried for now. Even he had those same feelings that he would rather forget, but they continued to stay buried deep in his heart. It was no doubt the same thing with Jak, as well. "I know you're still pretty worried about the old guy and Keira. Hell, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't feeling the same way right now. I want to find them just as much as you do, but we don't even have any idea where to start looking for them. For all we know, they probably aren't even anywhere near this city right now. That warp portal could have easily thrown them all the way to the other side of the world and we wouldn't even know it."

"Yeah, I know," the blond replied as he tried to perk up his spirits and bury away the nagging feeling of dread every time he was reminded that they had to find Samos and Keira. "I just hope that if that really is the case that they're doing alright either together or on their own. I just can't help but to feel worried every time I end up thinking about them. It's been a few months since we were separated. I'm glad that I'm still with you, but I just can't help that something bad has happened to them. You can say that it's my nerves talking here, but I just keep feeling that way every time I think about it. I-I'm really worried here."

"Hey, worrying about something never got anybody anywhere," the Ottsel said in a peppy tone in an attempt to cheer up his buddy. "As old Loghead used to say to us: 'If you have time to worry about things and mope around, then you have time to go and do something productive.' And before you start going at me here, yes, I hate the man's quotes," he added when he saw the raised eyebrow aimed at his direction after he stated that quote. "It was the only way I could think of, though, to get you out of this depressing mood you're in right now. I dare say that it worked better than I thought."

"Oh, what would I seriously do without you here with me, Dax?" Jak asked with a smile creeping onto his face as he felt the familiar weight of Daxter climbing onto his shoulder making itself known. "I'd probably be in the dumps right now or worse if you weren't here to cheer me up every now and then. You really know what to say when I'm not acting like myself. Thanks for sticking by me all this time, even when you could've easily just left me on my own and go your own way."

"And leave you wandering like a little lost crocodog looking for it's owner? No way, buddy! You'd be really lost if I weren't here trying to shout your ear off every few minutes. That and you'd probably be rotting away in jail if I had really run off all those months ago and let the stupid KG take you away and do whatever it was they wanted to do to you. Besides, the Orange Lightning never abandons people who're in need of help, and that includes his best friend/brother. So even if you yourself wanted me to leave, I'd be stuck to you like glue and won't be going anywhere anytime soon."

"Uh, I kind already figured on that a few years ago, buddy. But it's nice to actually hear it coming out from your mouth instead of me always having to assume that you're going to stay with me. Just promise me one thing before I switch off to something else here. Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll always be by my side acting in that crazy hyper way that only you would know how to act as. Promise me that you'll never change, no matter what happens."

"Gee, you're starting to sound all sappy on me all of a sudden. Of course I'll always stay the same annoying little Ottsel that you just so adore You'd probably have to hook me up to a computer and install some new things into me if you wanted me to act any differently. However, I also kind of expect the same from you. I don't want you turning into the sad sap that you're sounding like right now, no matter what happens. If you're not talking to me about something wrong I did, I'm bound to go crazy sooner or later from it."

"Heh, I think that's a promise that I can easily keep, provided, of course, that you end up keeping yours, as well," the blond answered with a slight chuckle as he made his way towards the door. However, he stopped just short of touching the handle before he turned around and quickly walked back to the desk. Once he got there, he took a small black metal device that was resting on top of the wooden surface into his hands. After examining it a little bit, he placed it into his inside jacket pocket for safe keeping.

The device was a small communications device that he and Daxter had received when they first got their job at the Critter Ridder Company. It was so that their boss, Mr. Osmo, would be able to keep in contact with them wherever they were regardless whether or not they were currently on duty or break. It was also a way for them to talk with other people besides their boss, a feat that they had already done with Sig once they figured out that he had a similar device with him.

"We definitely can't leave here without at least having this on us," Jak stated as he patted the phone against his chest to make sure that it stayed there before moving back to the door. "This thing can mean the difference between a good job and big trouble. I don't want to end up getting chewed out again by Osmo for forgetting to bring the phone with me. He was really panicky once he finally managed to get a hold of me. I can only imagine how many times he was trying to call us."

"Oh, I definitely won't be forgetting that anytime soon," Daxter agreed with a small sigh as he remembered getting an earful from the man when he had asked to meet them in his office regarding the matter. He did not yell at them, but he sure talked an awful lot about it, and it more than compensated for the lack of loud voices. "I never thought someone could sound so threatening by just talking a lot. I mean, I know he said getting all angry and stuff wasn't his thing, but by the way he kept on talking, you'd think that he found another way to vent out his anger."

"Well, let's just make sure that we don't end up having to bear witness to that again," the teen said as he opened the door and exited out into the still ratty-looking hallway. He then closed it and took out his keys that he had left in his jacket from the night before. With the insertion of the key and a simple turn of his wrist, they heard the satisfying sound of the lock clicking into place. He then pocketed the key and made his way down the hallway towards the elevator. "That's definitely one situation I don't want to end up being in again. Then again, who'd want to be in a position where they're being chewed out by their boss?"

"Only crazy people would actually want to be yelled at or whatever else a boss does," the Ottsel stated as he purposely poked around at the spiky blond hair beside him. "Either that or they desperately want to get fired from their job because they just plain hate it and can't get enough courage to say that they want to quit. You never know; I'm sure there are a couple of people in this town who's actually done that before. I wouldn't be surprised if old Osmo's actually had a couple of people like that working for him before us."

And so they continued on with their random small talk as they approached the elevator. Even when it had arrived at their floor and they rode it down to the lobby, they still continued to talk, although they had started to be a bit more random about their topics. Even as they passed by the reception desk, with Tess behind it and waving hello to them and them waving back to her, they still went on with their random ramblings until they had made it out of the lobby and into the busy streets of Haven City.

* * *

Hello again! I hope you liked this new chapter. While I was writing it, I suddenly remembered about Samos and Keira. I had completely forgotten about them up until now. So I figured that I'd fit them in somewhere in this chapter. To do that, I had to momentarily break the funny happy mood I was portraying. I feel, though, that the transition between the two moods went pretty smoothly.

Anyway, please don't forget to leave a review. See you until the next update. And please read my other story, too, "Radiant Path of Dawn's End".


	17. The Dark Side of a New Morning

**Chapter 17: The Dark Side of a New Morning**

_Meanwhile, somewhere in Haven City…_

"May I assume that everything is going along just as I have planned it?" a deep and nearly raspy voice inquired to someone, its owner's tone filled with what sound to be nothing but pure malice. "All I can do is assume while I lie in wait for your signal to begin. I would hate for things to not be so after all the time and resources I've given you to prepare and complete everything. I've given you step-by-step instructions along the entire way for the past few years you've been there. There should be no reason as to why things are not on course."

The place where the man and another person were talking was in a room well concealed by near complete darkness. The only light that was really cutting through the thick ebon blackness was the image projection that was coming from a rather large device lying along the walls of the room, a complex communicator that was currently projecting a grainy image of someone. Small, thin beams of light also peered through a couple of windows well covered with rather thick drapes, but they were not enough to even light up two inches worth of floor, which looked to be made completely out of solid metal through the small revealing light.

"I assure you, my good sir; everything that you've planned out is going right on schedule," a man, whose silhouette was barely visible in the dark room by the glow of the holographic projector, said to the image with a soft chuckle of amusement escaping his lips. Even if someone happened to have been eavesdropping into the conversation, there would be no way for them to establish the identities of who it was that were talking, due to inadequate lighting and a grainy image. "It's all going exactly as you planned it to be, exactly as your very calculations have predicted. You just concentrate on taking care of the things outside of the city walls while I continue to work undercover within these very walls that you so wish to breach soon. I also assure you that none of these surprisingly ignorant people suspect me of anything yet; and if I continue to act the same way I have been, it should be long after the succession of your plans before they officially figure out which side I've been playing for this whole time."

"Excellent," the raspy man replied with the sound of a smile easily heard in his voice. "I've been waiting many years for the day when I rule the city to become a reality. Too long have I watched beyond the city walls, so close yet so far to ruling the last pitiful speck of land that would earn me total destruction and conquest of this entire planet. The Precursors were fools into thinking that they would be able to keep me at bay with their pitiful tricks and attempts at protection against my men. Slowly but surely, I've approached and broke down each of their well-constructed, yet flimsy defenses, one pitiful wall at a time. Now only one stands in my way, and it just so happens to be the most durable of them all."

"Yet you yourself have somehow managed to worm your way into the haven that is this city, if only by apparitional means," the man stated proudly, his voice reflecting his agreement to the other's words. "Not only do you have contact with me in here, but you also have the privilege to speak with someone of high authority here. That's no small feat for someone in a position such as yours, if I do say so myself. If only they knew of your real plans. I doubt, then, that they would so readily trust your words if that were to be the case. Wouldn't you say so, sir?"

"Ha, the foolhardy fool couldn't even see past the very walls of his powers, much less the walls of Haven City! He is an easy force to take care of and even easier to get rid of when the time for his eradication comes along. I'm more concerned, though, with the layout of the city itself. Unlike that last piece of civilization that me and my men have decimated into the ground, I feel an unusual strength emanating from somewhere within, a power that rivals that of great concentrations of Eco. It is something that makes me hesitate to move my hand, a feeling that almost nothing can make me feel. This is why I ask of you to continue your search of the city and find the source of this…energy and to do away with it, if possible."

"Ha, ha; and so it shall be done, my good sir. I only ask that you allow me a bit more time regarding this matter. Between the job I have been appointed by and for this city and the mission that I carry out for you, there's hardly enough hours in the day for me to search out this energy you speak of. However, I have been trying to manipulate the city's army and security force to my benefit on this situation; but my efforts have yet to upturn any new information at this time."

"So long as you don't do anything to botch everything that we've worked so hard for up till now, I have no objections in giving you all the time you need. I would rather, though, that you try to speed things along in there. My men here are starting to become rather antsy at the very thought of participating in their last killing spree. They're all too eager and excited to kill the last of the humans; they've taken to roaming around the deserts and fornicating with each other in an attempt to dispel some of their pent-up energy, which is much to my displeasure. The last thing I need here is a lack of soldiers busy tending to their young."

"And I share your exact sentiments on that accord. Some of the men that are under my command have also done the same thing in that regard. It's almost as though they do that just so they can find a plausible excuse to get out of work and make me become undermanned. If it weren't for the fact that I have to be in compliance with the Haven City Labor Laws, I'd be making them work despite whatever young they've managed to bring into this desolate world through means of procreation."

"Speaking of young," the man on the projector stated with a thoughtfulness at the edge of his voice, "have you managed to find a suitable candidate for the project I have managed to drill into the mind of our rather dense official? I'm sure that it'd be a boon to your search of the strange energy and to wreak sensible havoc within the city, which I believe would work to our advantage. After all, a creature induced with Dark Eco seem to have an affinity for other types of Eco. If the abnormality I sense is indeed Eco, then our dark creature should be able to locate it."

"I regret to inform you that I have yet to find a suitable candidate for the project," the man inside the dark room stated as the sight of him lowering his head a bit was barely seen through the terribly dim lighting. "All of the people that I have subjugated to the injections have all turned out negative and have died. None have managed to survive even the first injections of Dark Eco. I'm beginning to believe that there is no one in this blasted town who is compatible with this experiment. That and Dark Eco itself is known to be a killer to those who simply graze it with their fingertips. To create a creature with such a deadly toxin is quite a tall order to ask of someone, even if they happen to have the resources to attempt such a request."

"Hmm, even through all the hard work and effort you're visibly showing in order to see my plans of domination to fruition, you still somehow manage to disappoint me on a couple of levels," the projected man took note with slight disappointment in his tone at the unfortunate hitch to his immediate plans. He then added with another small raspy sigh in a way that projected his understanding at the situation, "Oh well, I suppose that even the best of men have their hard times every now and then. Are you being truthful with me, though, when you say that you have yet to find anybody who can withstand the first round of experimentation? I've introduced this plan to him not even two years ago under the guise of helping him find a way to strengthen up his men. In all this time, you have yet to find one suitable candidate?"

"Well, there is _one_ person that might show some promise to the experiments," the other stated as he seemed to be choosing his words carefully so as to not back himself into a corner should he end up being wrong in what he said. "If what I believe about him is correct, then he just might be the very one to successfully go through with the program; although it's quite a stretch for me to say since I've yet to get my hands on him. He's a blond-haired boy who looks to be no older than fifteen with a rather obnoxious talking pet rat with equally obnoxious orange fur on his shoulders. I first met them a few months ago in the business district when they reportedly appeared through a flash of bright light that came from nowhere. I managed to capture the boy then, but wasn't able to escort him myself to the experimentation area due to a call of an urgent meeting. Much to my unavoidable discomfort, I left the boy in the care of my men, and they somehow managed to botch it and let him escape."

"Did you say a blond-haired boy of fifteen with an obnoxious orange furred rat on his shoulders?" the man on the projector repeated with a thoughtful hum lingering at the back of his throat. He then asked with a hint of realization taking center stage in his tone, "Do you mind imparting to me information in regards to what this boy looked like at the time you first had first approached him? I'm taking into consideration in your ability to remember all that, being that it has been a good few months since you first laid eyes upon him. If I have my thoughts straighten out correctly on this, then I think I might have found the very answer to our problem here. And don't bother to tell me anything about the rat; the boy is the one whom I'm interested in as of now."

"If you feel that it'll be of great importance, then I can do nothing but comply," the shadowed man stated as he placed his hand under his chin and began to think back to the day that happened a few months ago. "Let me see; I believe he was wearing these very outlandish clothes when I first saw him. They were quite out-of-place and almost country-like in appearance, much like the pictures that are commonly seen in the books containing the history of this planet. His hair was also relatively long, shoulder length at most, a clear contrast to his unusually bright blue eyes. And that's about as much as I can remember of him at this time. Ever since then, I've had a few chance run-ins with him in the streets with his ever annoying pet rat standing tall and proud upon his shoulders, but he always manages to elude me when I give chase, even when I call in my men to chase after him. It's almost as though he's used to situations like this and knows how to act under a level head. I'll admit that he's changed his appearance somewhat over the months, and it's somewhat hard to ascertain the fact that he's the same boy. But I myself have no doubt that he's the same one from all those months ago."

"I knew it!" the other man exclaimed suddenly, catching the man off-guard and causing him to falter in the middle of his explanation. He then said more to himself than to the other person in a muffled tone, "If what you say is accurate, then that's the very same boy that I encountered all those years ago! I never would have thought that he would've ended up at this point in time, of all places. My, it really must be his unluckiest moment to have ended up in here. Well, that just means my luck on this matter has turned quite drastically for the better.

"Hurry up and apprehend the both of them!" the man commanded suddenly, causing the other to forcibly remove himself from his confused state and back to his attentive position. "I want you to find and capture the boy as soon as you can. I don't care how you do it, but I ask that you make sure he's alive and well when you do so. A few bruises here and there will be fine, but nothing permanent or life-changing. It wouldn't do if he were to die during your attempts to apprehend him. After all, I've had the privilege to lay my eyes on this boy before, and I believe him to be the very key to achieving success to our Dark Eco experiments."

"Understood, sir!" the other man responded curtly in an official tone that easily showed he understood the instructions given to him. "I shall find and have him delivered to the experimentation area within the palace as soon as I can. It will, of course, take some time for my efforts to make any progress, but I believe it shall be done soon. What should I do, though, with his pet rat after I've successfully captured the boy?" he inquired as he suddenly remembered the Ottsel that always hung around with the teen "I've no doubt that they will be together when the time comes for his capture. Do you have any requests as to what should be done with him?"

"I care not about what happens with the orange cretin. You may do what you want with him. You can subject him to the same experiments for all I care. All I ultimately want is for the boy to be injected with the Dark Eco and kept well throughout the entire process. I've met this boy once before in the past, and the only way for me to have met him was if he had an affinity for absorbing and using Eco. Hopefully, his affinity is as strong as his will to avoid you and your men in order to survive these rather harsh and difficult times."

"Uh, I hope you don't mind me asking this, sir; but just when was it that you happened to meet this boy? I understand that you said it was sometime in the past, but how long from the past was it? In all my years of living and working within these walls, which is to say my entire life, I have seen and heard of everybody in here. Not once have I ever seen this person roaming the streets of Haven City before. I doubt that he came from somewhere outside these walls; you're living proof that nothing can exist beyond these obstructive walls."

"When and where I had the privilege to lay my eyes upon the boy matters not to you or your current assignment," the man stated coolly as he brushed the inquiry away as if it were simple dust on his sleeve. "It isn't your place to know of such things. I will, however, impart to you this one thing. I first met him in a time and place that you cannot possibly begin to comprehend, no matter how hard you try. It was in this very area, before this detestable city was erected over this land by the people led by the Precursors, when I had first laid my eyes on him. I thought it would've been my last at the moment, but I was proven wrong this very moment."

"A time when before this very city even came to existence?" the man in the dark room repeated, clearly confused at the unusual statement and trying to hide that fact. "A time when even before the accursed Precursors themselves even had the thought to create this city?" He then added after a slight thoughtful pause, "…I believe you're right on this, sir; this is truly something that is far beyond my physical ability to comprehend and understand. However, that doesn't mean that I doubt whatever it is that you say. I have full trust in your words, whether they be extremely far-fetched or not, simple and to-the-point or stated so elaborately that it'd only leave me guessing for the real truth. You are, as they say, the head man of the group, and you are entitled to whatever secrets that you wish to keep to yourself."

"Well, it's nice to see that you show such undying faith and loyalty to me, the man who was once skeptical into believing that you would actually serve me, your sworn enemy that you have taken an oath to protect the citizens of Haven City against. Just so that I have all of my facts straight, do you mind telling me again why it is that you plan to side yourself with us, the enemy of the very town you live in? What motivates you to turn your back against your fellow brothers and lend your blade to our cause? Although I do trust you as a subordinate, I still cannot fathom the thought as to why someone of your position would do a thing such as this."

"As I said on the first day we discussed of me joining in on your cause, I'm a firm believer in change, be it for the better or the worse. At this point, I find the fact that you're wanting to conquer the last speck of land on this entire world known to be inhabited by humans to be quite a revolution for society. As a fellow human myself, I must admit to the fact that we're simply fighting for a life filled with peace and without any fears; a life that can never become a reality at this point. I was different in terms of those thoughts and always thought that this city was only a lost cause. Of course, I had my share of troubles voicing my opinions, but I've stuck with them ever since all those years ago.

"In other words, I fight with you and your men simply because I intend to fight for a revolution," the man continued on as his voice grew more and more proud at what he was trying to accomplish. "This world needs a new dominate species, a new race that can bring about a new era of life. I take your very existence in this world as testament to the fact that change is needed. I don't care if I happen to be the only human left alive on this pitiful planet. So long as I know I fought for the side of change, I'll be happy with whatever comes my way after the fact."

"Ha, you truly are a one-of-a-kind human that I chanced to stumble upon during negotiation talks a few years back!" the man on the projector exclaimed with a great laugh that was deep and full of amusement. "Before you spoke to me back then, I never thought I would see the day when a human would actually side himself with us on our cause to destroy all humans and rule the planet. Imagine the surprise both me and my men felt when you brought about the proposition to us at the time. We all thought that you were trying to plan something against us and wanted some inside information as to our workings. I see now that we were wrong. You have proven yourself to be quite serious in your decision time and time again, always willing to follow and deliver the fruits of the many assignments that you've done on my stead behind the city walls and completed without fail."

"Why, I thank your for your kind words of praise, sir," the other stated with the enjoyment of receiving such praise reverberating through his voice. "It's quite a pleasant surprise to hear such words being uttered from your mouth. I never thought of you to be the one to so readily praise his men for a job well done. To be honest, you don't strike me as that type of person. You've always seem to me the one who likes to make things concise without any hints of fooling around. You always were direct in your approaches and never make it a point to sound just as you are now."

"Would you rather, then, that I shower you with insults and other negative comments? Just say the word and it shall be done. Allow me to say that I don't usually, as you say, give out comments of such to any of my subordinates. And I suggest that you don't take my words entirely to heart. They were not so much so on the side of praise, which is what you seem intent on seeing them as. I was merely conveying the surprise that both me and my men felt upon hearing your rather strange request to help us. Then again, wouldn't you have found it odd if it were the other way around in the fact that I was asking you to allow me in helping you to eradicate my very army? Even you would have to admit that such a request from the other side of enemy lines isn't something that you would often hear, especially in the middle of a war."

Just then, a sudden sound permeated through the rather silent room. Stopping their conversation in its tracks, the man inside the dark room gave out a small sigh of annoyance before reaching into his pocket and taking out a small communicator that was currently blinking a red light, an indicator that he had an incoming call. With quick fingers, he pressed a couple of buttons to stop the light from blinking and a small image appeared in place of it. It was basically a small compact mini version of the projector that was currently still running inside the dark room.

"Just where in the name of Mar are you hiding yourself away, Commander?" the voice belonging to a man who sounded like he held authority over the man asked in a rather impatient tone. "I've been trying to contact you within the palace for the past half hour before I decided to call you up on your communicator. Hurry up and get your butt down here right this instant! We're going to be having an emergency meeting regarding the status on the battle with the Metal Heads. We need you here in a half an hour in order to ascertain our best course of action, being that you're the commander of the army and all that. So hop to it man!"

"Yes, my lord baron," the man replied in a professional manner in contrast to his earlier annoyed behavior at being called upon. "I'll be at the palace by the top of the hour. If those grey-haired officials decide to start early without me, tell them that they run the risk of total annihilation by the enemy due to a lack of proper planning. If that's all that you called me up for, then I shall take my leave and make my way to the palace immediately. I'll see you then, my lord."

With that ending remark leaving his mouth, the commander of the Haven City army terminated his side of the communications and pocketed the device back into his pants pocket. With another aggravated sigh escaping his lips, he shook his head at the fact that he now had to make a mad dash back to the palace. From where he was, the distance between here and there was almost exactly a half an hour. If the baron wanted to make things close for him in terms of time, he could not have done a more better job of it right now.

"Another meeting with the foolhardy officials and the baron in regards to workable battle tactics against me and my men, huh?" the man on the projector asked with the sound of a sneer clear in his voice. "I didn't think that they still had fight left in them after the beating they took last time they tried to take out one of my forces. I still can't believe that they managed to hold out for so long before they were forced to admit defeat and cede victory over to me and my men."

"Well, I had to employ my most elite men for the situation in order to bring any suspicion about my true intentions away from me," the commander stated as he made to leave the dark room. "You were trying to breach the walls in such succession that I had a hard time trying to keep up with appearances. At least you now know to space out your attacks by a reasonable amount of time for me to react. I'm sure the last thing you want is for your only insider, who happens to be a human, to be branded a traitor and killed for treason against the city and throne."

"I believe my own personal battle tactics against the city should be the least of your worries as of now, my good man. Rather, I suggest that you hurry on to your baron and his ragtag band of trusted city officials and concentrate on the contents of that meeting. Just like last time, make sure you report back to me about any new plans and developments they have in store for my men as soon as you are able to do so. With you as my source of insider information, I rather have all the facts of my enemy's plans laid out in front of me before I make my move."

"And you will have that full report as soon as I am free to arrange another meeting with you without having to raise suspicion upon myself. Until the time comes, though, I'm afraid that we must part ways and go along with our own personal affairs. And do not worry; I will keep it in my mind to capture that boy and his pet rat if it's the last thing I ever do behind these walls. He could be the very key to having our own personal monster to be used at our digression and disposal, provided, of course, that he can survive the first wave of Dark Eco injections."

"See to it that you do exactly that," the man on the projector stated with a slight snort of his breath. "And make sure to remember this: Make sure that the boy doesn't come to any kind of permanent harm. Dark Eco doesn't seem to react well to specimens that have already been dealt with a potentially crippling or life-changing blow of some sort. You may do whatever it is you wish to do with the rat, but keep the boy out of deathly harm's way. That is all that I ask of you to do for me this time around, as well as remembering the contents of your meeting and conveying the information that has surfaced through it back to me. And with that, I trust that I'll be seeing you again in the near future, Commander Errol."

"And I hope the same goes for you on that, as well, Kor, leader of the ever so feared Metal Heads," the man, who is now revealed to be none other than Errol, said with a quick salute before moving back into the shadows and away from the projector's range of light to where the door laid hidden behind a veil of darkness. And as he opened the hidden door, thus allowing the light to come pouring into the room and falling upon his figure, he said, "Whatever the intended outcome of the meeting is, I'll make sure that it'll end in our favor. I'll make sure that the officials and the baron don't end up having their way in this meeting, provided, of course, that it's within my reasonable power to argue against their wishes."

"See to it that it does while making sure that you don't end up blowing your well-made cover," the man, now known as the leader of the Metal Heads, Kor, stated. Before he terminated his side of the connection, he added, "If you can't do anything to sway their minds on an idea that could prove bad for me, don't push it. I would rather that you come back failing on that regard than to not have you being able to report back to me at all. You are, of course, a valuable asset to me, as well as a most trusted ally in this war. I hope to see you again soon." He then cut off his side of the projector, thus leaving the room with a completely grainy image and an annoying white noise.

Upon seeing the leader of the Metal Heads making his leave of him, the commander then fully exited the room and shut the metal door tightly behind him as he left. The room was now once again bathed in the darkness that had since become affiliated with it, concealing within its mysterious blanket of ebon blackness the secret meeting that had taken place between the two men, once known as sworn enemies of each other, that had taken place only mere moments ago.

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Hello. I decided to try and start introducing the beginning of the plot of this story through here. I hope the transition between everything being the best it could be from the last chapter to the revealing plans of doom and domination brought up in this one went smoothly. It's time that we now started to build our way up to the real plot behind this story.

And sorry if the name of this chapter sounds sucky. I couldn't think of a better title for this. And even if I weren't tired right now, what with it being three in the morning right now for me, I probably still wouldn't be able to come up with a good chapter title.

Anyway, I hope you like this new chapter either way and the small taste of the dangerous plot within this story. Please don't forget to leave a review before you go. See you in the next update everybody!


	18. A Day Off Gone Wrong

Hey everybody. Sorry for the sort of long update. busy getting ready for college here. That said, i'll try to update my stories as much as I can. Just expect a slight delay in the process.

Anyway. I hope that you like this new chapter. don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading.

Also, for those of you who like the things I come up with, thank you. Just as a note, I don't think ahead on what I write about. I just let it come to me and see how it goes from there. Just a little note that not even I know what's going to happen in this story.

Another note: I posted another story. It's called Advent of Crisis. It's really just a teaser of sorts. But if you read it and want to see more, please leave a review on _that_ story. Of course, don't forget to review this story as well.

Until the next update everybody!

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Chapter 18: A Day Off Gone Wrong**

_Just after the end of the secret meeting…_

"So what do you want to do now that we're finally out of that stuffy room and here in the ever-so-colorful and peaceful streets of this place known as Haven City?" Daxter asked with arms stretched out in front of him and a strong hint of sarcasm in his words as he and Jak exited the lobby of the apartment complex, immediately feeling the warm rays of the sunlight hitting their faces which caused them to involuntarily squint a bit. "I know you said something along the lines of just wanting to go out and wander around aimlessly through these streets filled with potential death while hoping against all odds that nothing bad is ever going to happen to us. If I really didn't know any better, you'd probably already have somewhere in mind to go to and just feel like keeping me in the dark about it like you sometimes like to do. I wouldn't put it past you to actually do something like that, you know?"

"Come on, buddy; the only time I'd leave you in the dark like that was if there was something special going on," Jak explained as he licked his lips a bit in a thoughtful manner. "The last time I checked, there was nothing that we consider to be special going on right now. All we're doing is just walking around and trying to see if there's anything new going on around here. We've been in this city for a few months already, but the only time we really get to go and see somewhere new is while we're on the job. I don't know about you, but I rather like to get to know a bit about where I'm at instead of knowing just enough for work purposes. That's when we'll really have a good chance to explore the place better. You'll never know; it might come in handy if we ever get chased again by that Errol guy and his men."

"Oh, please don't mention that guy's name while I'm standing around up here on your shoulder looking like your cute pet and all that crap!" the Ottsel stated with a small groan as he made fake gagging noises, earning him a few strange looks from others that both boys completely ignored. "Just thinking about him makes me want to go up to him and punch him upside the head until he can't tell which way's up or down. That and I'd probably fall clean off your shoulder in disgust at the reminder of his stupidly stuck-up, formal, and commanding attitude. I'm telling you; I've never seen anybody so obsessed over trying to get their hands on us every time they see us on the streets just so they can get the chance to kill us. What did we ever do to him to make him that pissed off? All we really did was try to save our own butts and embarrass his men just so we could get away from them. I don't see anything wrong with all that, do you big guy?"

"Well, if you tried looking at things from his point of view instead of just ours, then I'm sure even you'd be able to see something wrong with what we do to him," the blond suggested with a small smile as he pulled his jacket down a bit, not bothering to buckle on the leather strap, and started to walk down the streets with the many zoomers hovering a good few yards above them. "Don't get me wrong; I like seeing the guy squirm a bit whenever he messes up with us. However, if you put yourself in his place, wouldn't you find it real embarrassing that your own men, whom you're supposed to be responsible for, mess up badly on a simple thing like trying to escort a prisoner to prison? If you think of it that way, it would make perfect sense why the guy's so desperate to try and catch us. If you ask me, I think he's just out for revenge more than anything just because we humiliated him."

"Well, if he's doing all this just because of a simple humiliation thing, then he'd better take a chill pill and learn to relax a bit more. All that stress from both us and his work is bound to catch up with him sooner or later. One day, he's going to be busy doing something really important and he's going to get a heart attack because of his high blood pressure. I can just imagine the poor sap collapsing in the middle of the street while he's busy chasing us down.

"Don't get me wrong here; I honestly don't have anything against him just randomly dying on us any time soon," the animal added with a goofy smile, one that the teen merely shook his head at as well as rolled his eyes. "My only gripe here is that he's not getting either tired nor frustrated enough _to_ collapse due to anything short of exhaustion. Hey, that sounds like something that we can do today. We can try finding the guy somewhere out here and we'll give him the biggest headache of his life; so much so that he'll end up keeling over with an ulcer! What do you think about that wondrously ingenious plan of mines, big guy?"

"Alright, if you want to do that, then go ahead and do it," Jak said in an indifferent tone as if he did not care. "No one's going to stop you here. Just remember this buddy: The moment you get yourself captured and sent to prison where they can do only the Precursors know what to you, don't go crying back to me after they're done with you saying that you should've listened to me and left him alone. It's all going to be on you when that happens.

"Might I suggest, though, that you take my advice and try to stay out of trouble?" the teen added with seriousness suddenly replacing his teasing tone of voice. "This isn't like the way it was back at Sandover. We're dealing with people who could actually kill us just for doing something like that. And after that close call I had with him, I rather stay clear away from him unless I really just can't. I suggest that you the same here for your sake and, more importantly, mines."

"Jeez, alright big guy," Daxter said in an exasperated tone. "You know that I was only messing around with you there, just like I always do whenever we're just chilling it, right? You don't have to start getting all serious about this with me. Orange Lightning doesn't go around trying to pick fights he knows he has no chance of winning. Besides, in case you didn't notice, I don't really like getting myself into problems like that in the first place, so there's no need for you to get so worked up over me just kidding around.

"And just for the record here, I know that this wonderfully loud, super smoggy, and ultra-obsessed metallic city isn't the nice warm sandy beaches and cliffs of Sandover," the orange Ottsel added with a small snort coming from his small black animal nose. "Thank you very much for that pleasant reminder, big guy."

"You're welcome, Dax," the blond replied as he continued to walk down the street with no particular destination in mind, all while pretending to be completely oblivious to the strong sarcasm in the Ottsel's voice and only adding more fuel to his annoyance. "After all, isn't that what the best of friends tend to do best? Don't they like to remind each other about certain things that the other just might have happened to completely forget about?" he added in a suggestive tone towards the animal, indicating that those words were directly aimed at him and him alone. "For me, I just wanted to make sure you remembered that you're right now not at home, but you're in another place where only the Precursors know how far away it is from our place."

"Yeah, well, I didn't need any of your friendly reminders to tell me that we're no longer back at home, buddy," the animal answered sarcastically as he shoved his arm out overdramatically and moved it back and forth from his left and right side. "The last time I checked, Sandover didn't have all of this metal crap and flying futuristic zoomers around every corner we pass. It was all dirt and wood, and the only zoomer anywhere near us was the one that Keira was working on in her garage almost everyday. I'm telling you; she'd probably see that thing as her own child or something if we weren't around to keep here tied to reality."

Instead of saying something back to him like he was expecting to happen, the Ottsel instead felt the blond stop suddenly in his tracks. He had just turned the corner and almost caused a person that was walking unusually close behind him to collide into his back. Said man said a couple of vulgarities, but they went unnoticed by the teen, who was busy looking straight ahead of him with a look of worry, and the animal, who was too busy trying to figure out what had caused his buddy to just stop. He soon got his answer once he finally decided to trace the boy's gaze and saw the same thing that had frozen him on the spot.

"Well, so much for a nice calm walk for us, huh?" Daxter asked with a small sigh escaping his lips. Walking just a few yards away from them was the last person that they wanted to see right now, Errol. They had just saw him exit a building and was now, thankfully, walking in the opposite direction of them. He had looked all around him as though he was not wanting to be caught doing something he was not supposed to be doing before moving, though. The street was dense with people, so he did not see Jak and Daxter, much to the two's great relief.

"I think I'll go and take a different route," Jak said more to himself as he quickly turned around and went down the other fork in the street, almost running into a woman who had tried to walk around him and was startled by the sudden movement. With a small apology escaping his lips and a few choice words thrown at him, he sped-walked down the opposite street.

"I hope that this street doesn't end up taking us ahead to where he's supposed to be going," the animal stated as he began to pace somewhat nervously between the blonde's shoulders on all fours. "Remember the last time you decided to use an alleyway to ditch the guy and ended up leading us right in the middle of his path?"

"If that's what's going to happen again, then we'll just do the same thing we did last time," the blond answered with a small shrug as he felt the pacing relieving some of the tension he had received when he saw the commander. "We'll just push him away and try to lose him in the crowd."

"That reminds me; why didn't you bring that humungous gun that Sig gave to you a few months ago? I can't really see any better time for you to use it than then and quite possibly now."

"Don't you remember? Someone from the Critter Ridder Company stole it from us on our very first day on the job right from our locker. Apparently, somebody found more use for it than we did."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You practically went all around the building in a panic asking everybody if they'd seen a gun. Did you honestly think that if you confronted the right person that they would actually fess up and say that they took it?"

"Well, it was worth a shot at the time," Jak replied with a scowl on his face as he turned a corner down the new street and physically began to slow his pace down. "I mean, that was our only means of protection against the Krimson Guard at the time, and I really didn't want to be caught by them again. Now, all we can do is make a run for it and hope we don't get beat up or worse."

"Yeah, well don't look now, but I think we're about to get caught here," Daxter stated in a worried tone, causing the blond to look over the shoulder he was occupying, as he pointed directly in front of them at something or someone in the crowd.

Following the slightly quivering finger, the teen looked through the dense crowd and saw, for the second time, the last person that they wanted to see. By some crazy feat of nature, they spotted Errol in the streets again. This time, though, he was walking right towards them, a cocky smile on his face and his gun drawn, all while pushing people who had not stepped aside at the sight of his gun out of his way.

"Where the hell did he come from?" the blond exclaimed as he immediately turned around again and started running, nearly crashing into a rather big man in the process. "I thought he was going down the other street!"

"You got nowhere to run this time around, Jak!" Errol shouted towards them as he continuously shoved innocent bystanders out of his way and ignoring their cries of protest. "I just called in my men, and they'll be down you and your pet rat's throat in a matter of seconds!"

"How many times have I told you, Mr. Ugly?" the Ottsel shouted back in an attempt at a snappy comeback as he served as Jak's personal rearview mirror. "I'm not a rat! I'm freaking bigger and smarter than a dumb rat!"

"Of course you're not a rat, you obnoxious little pet," the commander said sarcastically as he was seemingly making better progress than the two runaways. "Rather, you're going to be stuffed trophy hanging on my walls by the time I get my hands on you!"

"Hurry up, Jak; the creep's starting to gain some ground on us here!" Daxter stated in a rushed tone as he continued to keep his gaze behind them.

"I can't, Dax!" Jak exclaimed with a hiss of his breath, his teeth clenched together in both concentration and frustration. "There's just too many people out here today! I can't squeeze through all of them without at least having something in my hands that I could use to threaten them or something!"

"Oh, of all the times that we could be using a big humungous gun, now would be one of those moments!"

Refusing to reply to his buddy's rather dejecting whines and concentrating on trying to find a way out of this mess, the blond continued to push his way through the crowd of people, which seemed unusually dense this time around. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a building that looked a lot like a store of sorts. The door was hidden well among the sea of people, so he figured that that would be the best place to hide. Unfortunately, it was a yard or so away from where he was, so it was a long shot to say that they could get there undetected.

Deciding to just take his chances, Jak made a beeline for the door, startling Daxter off his shoulders and causing him to fall into his awaiting arms. The Ottsel made a small noise of surprise and frustration, but the teen paid no mind to it.

"I was just about to take you off my shoulders," the teen stated hastily as he kept his eyes trained on the door. "Better that you're as low as possible so you don't act like a homing beacon for the commander. That's definitely the last thing I need right now, especially if I hope for this quick plan to work."

Within a few seconds, they had reached the door just as they heard Errol crying out in frustration at the fact he had lost sight of them. Once they slunk their way in through the doorway, they went as far in the shop as they could, which was a small convenience store, while trying to avoid the shopping windows that gave those outside a clear view of what was going on inside.

"Where the hell did you two run off to?" they heard the commander exclaim loudly, so loud that the very windows shuddered a bit when he stood right next to it. Honestly, you can't keep hiding from me forever, you know?"

"Oh, of course we can't," Daxter whispered as he peeked through a crack in between two snack shelves and saw the bright colors of the commander's clothing moving away from the window and out of his immediate range of sight. "If we can't, then how is it that we always manage to get the best of you?"

"Because he's never had another set of eyes constantly on the lookout for the two of you," a voice from an aisle over suddenly replied, causing both boys to jump in surprise and accidentally knocking over some products in the process. "This time, though, he saw fit to put a few guards here and there in case you both managed to slip out of his sights again."

Suddenly, a man donning regular everyday citizen's clothing came into the aisle they were hiding out in and had two pistols aimed at each of their foreheads. He was a rather skinny person, but his face reflected the years of experience he had on the job and showed that he was definitely not a force to be reckoned with, despite his naturally light physique.

"Especially undercover guards posing as average citizens," the man added with a small smile as he looked towards the door that had just opened. "He figured that you would overlook people that didn't look like that they had any affiliations with the Krimson Guard. Isn't that right, commander?"

"I couldn't have said it better myself, soldier," the familiar voice of Errol responded from behind the two teens. Instinctively, they both turned around and saw that they were now trapped in-between the aisle with guns pointing at them from both sides and no hope of escape. Pushing over the shelves might have been an idea, but this store just had to go and plant them firmly onto the ground, something that Jak's quick eyes caught as he frantically searched for a way out of the mess they were definitely in.

"Now, how about you just give it up and come quietly?" the commander suggested in a voice that was anything but relieving. "You can't possibly escape this time around. I have my men standing guard on any and all possible exits out of here. The roof exit, the main exit, the back door, even the air ducts; they're all under watch of my men. You're completely surrounded here."

"_J-Jak?_" Daxter asked mentally as he audibly gulped down a lump that was starting to form in his throat. "_How're you going to get us out of this mess? They really got us cornered this time. Oh, now would really have been a good time for you to have that big gun with you._"

Instead of answering, Jak simply pushed his back behind one of the shelves that was full of snacks. He did that so he would not be suckered into a hit from behind, and he would be able to see both of his attackers. Another reason was that he was frantically searching for something around him that he could possibly use as an improvised weapon. Unfortunately, the entire aisle was dedicated to only small snacks, none of which were either large nor hard enough to deal any kind of real damage or distraction whatsoever to either of the two men.

"I suggest that you hurry and come to a decision," Errol stated with an evil victory smile adorning his face while the other man was starting to look visibly bored at the situation. "It's not like you can really do anything about this now. In case you've already forgotten, I have this place completely surrounded. The moment you leave this place without so much as me or my soldier there escorting you out, you'll be gunned down right where you stand.

"And don't even think about trying to enlist the help of the nice innocent cashier over there," the commander added as he cocked his head slightly towards the direction of the cashier, who looked as though he was ready to faint at the situation unfurling in front of him. "Do that, and I can't guarantee his safety. After all, my man here isn't just training his gun on the two of you in his position. Besides, I don't believe that he's in any situation to be helping you out, regardless if we were even in here or not. Isn't that right, my good sir?"

All he got as a response from the frightened man was a whimper as he stood perfectly still, minus the very visible trembling of fear, and watched what was happening in front of him with no knowledge as to what was going to happen next. Apparently, Errol had something over the man's head and was using as a form of blackmail to keep him at bay.

For a moment, Jak was quiet as he contemplated what his next move was going to be. He then asked after a reluctant silence, "…Did you know that we came in here when you passed by the store window? You were making a show of losing us just so you'd catch us off-guard, right?"

"You really are a clever boy, aren't you?" the commander complimented in a sarcastic tone, taking note of his officer starting to shift his weight on his feet in an impatient manner. "As if your cleverness is going to get you out of this. Now, I'll ask you one more time; give it up and come quietly. You're wanted alive, so I suggest that you don't try anything that could potentially kill you."

"_Jak…,_" Daxter stated with another gulp as he bit his bottom lip and tried to sense something out of the blond underneath him. "_What's going on in that head of yours?_"

"…You want the both of us alive, don't you?" the teen asked, his eyes now solely trained on Errol.

"Just you, I'm afraid," the commander stated as he retrained his gun onto the Ottsel's forehead. "Your pet rat has no place in what we have in store for you."

"Then I'm afraid I'm going nowhere with you!" the blond stated stubbornly as he stared down the man, knowing that the other would not react unless he did something sudden.

"You're trying my patience, boy. If you don't come quietly, then I'll kill your pet rat here and now! Maybe that'll help unloosen those legs of yours."

"You kill him and I'll run out of this store and have your men kill me," he countered in response, feeling the animal on his shoulders tense up. "Don't think I won't do something crazy like that. I will!"

"Oh come on; do you honestly think the commander would fall for a bluff like that?" the other man stated with a scoff, making sure to keep his gun trained on the teen in case he decided to try something funny. "You couldn't even fight your way out of this two-man pincer you're in."

"Are you sure about that? Obviously, you've forgotten about how I managed to get away from captivity from your men a few months ago. Don't underestimate what you don't know."

For a moment, both sides were fairly quiet. The only sounds heard where the whimpering noises of the cashier and the crowd that had no doubt gathered outside the store doors. Other than that, Errol silently contemplated what was just said and was wondering how he was going to pursue the matter.

"Hmm, were you any other people, I would care less about you wanting to die along with your rat," Errol said slowly as he wrinkled his nose a bit and curled the corner of his lip into a small snarl. "However, you are wanted alive, so I suppose I have no choice but to give in to your demands, do I? So long as the rat doesn't open his mouth for the whole of the escort time, he won't find a bullet embedded into that puny skull of his. Deal?"

"So long as you don't kill him…, I'll go with you," Jak replied with a defeated sigh while he heard a loud "WHAT?" coming from Daxter.

"Did you already forget the deal, furball?" Errol stated as he all but shoved his pistol right onto Daxter's head, forcing him to shut up out of fear. "You should be thankful that I'm even considering letting you live a little bit longer. I suggest that you don't let your good friend's efforts go to waste." He then holstered his gun and moved aside for the blond to move, "Now, shall be we going now?"

Without so much as even making eye contact with the commander, the blond walked right past him, a look of anger plastered on his face at the situation that he and the Ottsel were now in. He knew full well that he could not run away this time around; it was practically impossible to do that now. He also sensed Daxter mentally yelling at him at what he was doing, but he paid no attention to it as he continued to walk calmly towards the store doors and out of them. He did not even pay attention to the sounds of guns cocking and quickly being put down as Errol exited the store soon after them. He did not even notice that they were escorted into a large zoomer that held a jail cell of sorts at the back.

All he thought about was how they were going to get out of this mess. Unfortunately, he could not think of one, and he was forced to think about what was so important about him that he would be needed alive. At least he could thank his lucky stars that he was able to use that against Errol and convince him to keep Daxter alive. But how long can their luck last?

Well, they were about to find out within the next couple of hours, hours that crawled slowly like a snail as both boys could only sit through the ride to wherever it was they were being taken to and wonder about the things that were going to happen to them.


	19. The Difference Between Life and Death

Hello everybody! Sorry for not updating for a week or so. I've been busy getting ready for college and all that other wonderful crap that life forces us through. Boy, that sure sounded a lot like something Daxter would say! Anyway, life's been crazy and I'm afraid that I might be forced to slow down a bit. I start in a couple of days, so time to slow down the story motor.

With that said, I don't intend to stop writing period. I'll still continue to write my stories; they're like the only thing that keeps me sane from the everyday hectic world of society. That and it's a good, safe way to become detached from the realities of the real world. If only some of the things I wrote actually were real... Think of all the excitement we'll be having then... Anyway, the updates will just be affected a bit because of that and won't be as abundant as they have been during the summer break. They will come over time, though, so please be patient. After all, I'm sure a good majority of my readers here are still in school themselves, so I'm sure most, if not all, of you understand here.

I also have been working on other stories, although this one is my main project and I hope to see this one all the way through. Speaking of this story, I noticed that I rallied quite a rebellious group with my last chapter. heh, heh. Jest so's you all know, all of the stories that I have posted on this site were written off from the top of my head. None of them were ever planned ahead, not including the small ideas and bits that help get it off the ground. So not even I know where this story's going to go.

However, I do have the next chapter planned out in my head, or at least the bare minimum to help me come up with one without having to plan ahead and stuff; but I'll keep it to myself and let you guys get even more riled up! I hope, though, that you all will still end up enjoying this chapter for what it is.

And thanks for some of the suggestions you guys post up. I must say, though, that most of what you suggest are what I already have stored somewhere in my head. The only thing keeping them from this story is that it's not time to reveal those ideas yet. They'll come out, though, so just be patient.

With all that said, thanks for reading and reviewing this story. Please also read some of my other recent works and review those, too. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Until the next update everybody!

Just as a fun little fact, this chapter was done all in one day; from midnight to three in the morning. I'm damn tired now!

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Chapter 19: The Difference Between Life and Death**

For the next hour or so, Jak and Daxter were riding along the back of a vehicle that looked to be used for transporting criminals. Apparently, was how they were being treated as right now. The Ottsel started to raise a big stink about the whole thing, but Jak quickly shut him up with the most serious glare he had ever given in his entire life. Seeing it as both a warning and a potential threat to his life, Daxter immediately closed his mouth with an audible gulp and kept it so for the entire leg of their trip.

Of course, being just caged up was not as much of a punishment for them as the Krimson Guard would have liked. They were actually shoved into a cage with nothing but metal bars barring them from the outside world. In other words, people from outside could easily see into the cage and the prisoners, which would be them, being transported to only the KG knew where.

For a lack of a better word, it was kind of embarrassing, having to be not only caged up like wild animals, but also to be put on display like one as well. It was almost like they were caught and being towed around for show purposes only. A few bystanders, however, did send quick looks of pity at the two teens before diverting their gaze elsewhere in fear of being reprimanded for the action. Others, to their astonishment, actually taunted them and praised the KG for what they were doing. Obviously, those people were KG sympathizers and would rather see the city ruled unfairly rather than be controlled in an orderly fashion.

Even as they tried their best to ignore the jeers and stares of the people outside their cage, the boys did not talk to each other, not even through body language. Both were trapped in their own little world wondering just what in the world they had managed to get themselves into this time around. Actually, Daxter was busy thinking that and cursing their luck while Jak was trying to figure out a plan for them to get out of here.

Unfortunately, there was no way for him to even grasp a base for an escape plan in their current situation. Apparently, Errol pulled out all the stops for the moment he managed to catch the two. Instead of him riding the transport vehicle himself, he chose to ride a separate KG-issued zoomer behind the car, along with a couple others surrounding the cage on all sides, all with their guns at the ready while steering with only one hand. This meant that their every move was being watched and that they would be killed the moment he tried to do anything funny.

That is what brought them to their current situation, sitting together on one side of the cage with nothing better to do than to be lost in their own thoughts, despite how dangerous it was to be doing that now. All they could do was think while ignoring the going-ons of the outside world and their predicament. It was hard, but they managed to keep their mind on other things for the entire trip until they were brought to wherever it was they were being taken to.

Once they arrived at their apparent destination, the transporter started powering down, moving slowly towards the ground at the same time. It was now Jak figured that he would be able to come up with a quick escape scheme, but he was wrong on this accord. Instead of just having extra security on their transport, the commander also decided to employ more men upon their arrival. No sooner had they landed and were being threatened out by a few guns being pointed at them did more guards came out of a nearby building with more guns on them, all of which were being trained on the two. Overall, there were probably well over a dozen soldiers and guns on just the two teens.

"I hope you don't mind the extra security measures I have in place here, boys," Errol stated in a tone that was filled with glee at what he had managed to accomplish. "After all, it wouldn't do to have you two running off on me again after I went through all that trouble to capture you alive over the past few months. I rather keep my catch of the day than to set it free and let it live to see the light of another day, especially when they have been eluding me for all this time. You see what I'm saying here?"

Instead of answering the man, Jak simply kept his mouth closed, along with a stoic face in tow, and continued to overwork his brain for a way to get out of their current mess. Daxter also seemed to have the same idea in mind as he carefully made his way onto his buddy's shoulder while not making any kind of sudden movements that would prompt them to shoot him. Even if he were not thinking right now, he still would not even utter a single word to the man in front of him. He would rather face death hanging over a huge pit filled to the brim of Dark Eco than to mince words with the man that had accosted them the moment they had first set foot in this city. Yes, he still remembered that day and was not going to be letting go of it anytime soon.

Suddenly, the sharp cracking sound of a gunshot was heard echoing in the air all around them, and that shook the teen out of his thoughts. Startled, he immediately looked up at the commander and saw smoke leaving the nozzle of the gun that he now had in his hands and was aimed at him.

"I suggest that you answer me while you still have the time to do so, Jak," he heard the man say as he motioned with his eyes for him to look behind and see what was now there. Subconsciously, he looked behind him and saw that the transporter he had just exited now had a new hole in it, courtesy of the handgun the man had drawn out and fired at them in apparent warning.

"I suppose…your heightened security could be the bane of our lives," the blond growled out reluctantly as he turned to face the man again with the same stoic look, although he was inwardly afraid that if he angered the man any further, that gun just might "accidentally" shift and strike Daxter instead. He definitely cared more for his buddy's like than his own right about now. "Don't you think it might be overkill to have all this just for the two of us, though?"

"Oh, believe me when I say this, boy; I've learned quite a few things from the past encounters I've had with you two. I've learned to never underestimate your abilities, despite the fact that you're probably just a boy playing the role of an outsider lost in the workings of a city as grand as this. I've also learned that I probably never want to have a pet as obnoxious and annoying as yours is."

"I doubt that you having a pet would be able to help wind down a bit," Daxter spat out as he felt Jak being pushed by one of the guards from behind as a motion to start moving forward. "Seriously, you're way too wound up for your own good. Ever heard of taking a couple of chill pills every now and them? I'm sure those could do wonders for you and your health."

"I don't need any sassy remarks coming from your furry little mouth, rat," Errol warned as he kept his gun trained on the Ottsel from behind the two while the huge group of soldiers kept their eyes and guns trained on the two teens. "And if you want to live out what's left of your pitiful life, I suggest that you keep your trap shut until I address you. Is that clear?"

"Clear as crystal," the animal replied as he mentally rolled his eyes. "No need to go around showing off your power to us just because you have us cornered like animals, though. I think we clearly get the picture here, especially with all your men surrounding us like were common criminals. I'm telling you…,"

Before he could utter another word regarding the matter, though, he felt himself being roughly pulled away from his perch by rough familiar hands. At the same time, he heard the sound of a gun going off again. This time, though, he practically felt it no more than an inch away from his side. Looking down for a split second, he noticed slight singe marks on his fur before Jak's hands had completely covered the mark.

"Damn, I missed!" Errol exclaimed as they both heard the sound of his angry footsteps quickly approaching them. With one fluid motion, he placed his arm on the blonde's shoulder and harshly turned him around, causing him to nearly lose his balance in the process. He then said to the Ottsel with his gun practically on his head, "You're lucky your friend here has good reflexes and instincts here; otherwise, you'd be lying on the ground bleeding away your last breath now. I won't say this again; do not speak to me like that again, especially when I haven't addressed you yet. Is that clear?"

"…As clear as it can be," Daxter stated as he licked his lips nervously, all while still being in the death grip Jak had him in.

"Good," the commander huffed out as he now walked right beside the two while the others kept careful watch on the teens. They then continued on their way to the nearby building that the extra soldiers came flooding out of.

Without any form of communication between the two, the blond continued to walk to wherever it was the commander and his men were forcing them to. He figured that it was probably to some kind of jail, but he was not too sure about that since there was just way too much security around for something as simple as that. No, they had to be going to someplace that was more dangerous than any kind of jail. That was his guess.

Once they had entered the doors of the building, which both boys had now figured out to be a rather large and grand place, their noses were suddenly assaulted with the scent of something that was both pleasant and terribly strong. For Daxter, it was the scent of people who had the money to make their place and themselves smell good for others to notice; to Jak, it was an indication that they were right now inside a building that potentially housed great power over the city itself. He usually used his hunches when affronted with something new, and they were almost always right. He had a feeling that that was going to be the case this time around.

"_This definitely doesn't feel like a place where they would have a jail to put people in,_" he thought as he only moved his eyes around in an attempt to scan his surroundings. However, it was badly compromised due to the many guards around him and blocking his view with their flaming red armor. "_It has too much of that powerful aura to be a jail. Where the hell are we?_"

"_To hell if I knew,_" Daxter said to Jak, who had forgotten that he was still holding him tightly in his hands. "_I would feel a whole lot more comfortable if you would just loosen your grip around my ribcage, though. It's damn hard to breath while being crushed by your gorilla hands, you know?_"

"_Uh, sorry about that,_" the teen stated as he loosened his grip on the animal, yet still held him tightly in case he decided to do something stupid again.

Before they could say anything else beyond that, they heard Errol clearing his throat as the entire group suddenly stop, forcing the teens to follow suit.

"Alright, let's see how tough you really are once we put you in this room," the commander said in an eerily creepy tone as he all but motioned for Jak to enter the doorway, which he could now see after the soldiers in front of them stepped aside. "After all, what lies within that room is what's going to take away the last living moments of your life. I suggest that you savor every last second that you have with your pet, because it's all about to end in this very room.

"Men, the moment the three of us enter this room, I want all but two of you to disperse and go back to your original duties," he commanded to the other guards, who all stood at attention upon being addressed. "For the two who elect to stay, I want you to stand guard beside this door. Unless it's someone with higher power or authority than me, no one shall pass through this door. The operation is but a delicate one, and I'll need the utmost concentration to execute it correctly. That's all. You're dismissed!"

With that said, he all but pushed Jak into the open door, nearly causing the startled teen to fall flat on his face and stumble a good foot or so forward. By the time he had recovered his balance, Errol had already entered the room and had closed the door tightly behind him in the process.

"_Oh boy, aren't we in trouble now,_" Daxter whined out mentally as the gravity of their situation seemed to suddenly come crashing into him like a ton of bricks. "_If we weren't totally screwed before this, then we certainly are now._"

"_Please don't tell me you only just realized that,_" Jak stated as his shoulders began to slump ever so slightly. "_Yes, we're definitely screwed here Dax. I can't even come up with a way for us to get out of here. That's how bad things are right now._"

"Well then, it looks as though there's no one here yet," the commander said as he walked ahead slightly and surveyed the room. "I can't really start on the project without him being here first. I guess then that we wait."

Without allowing even a single thought to process through his brain first, the blond quickly placed Daxter on top of his head, who was confused by the movement at first, before making a mad dash towards the commander. The Ottsel, who was completely taken aback by this overly sudden movement, barely had any time to tightly grab onto a lock of blond hair before being thrown to the ground. The same was said for the man, for when he turned around upon sensing quick and sudden movements happening behind him, he felt himself being tackled onto the ground.

"What…?" Errol all but shouted when he felt his back make hard contact with the metal floor and heard his gun clanking away from him as it left his hands. In no time, he felt a punch connecting with gut and felt the wind leave his body. At the same time, he felt what seemed to be paws pawing away at his body as if in search for any other kinds of weapons on him.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?" the commander exclaimed between wheezing breaths as he tried to fight off the weight of the teenager on top of him with one hand while attempting to swat away the animal with the other. Both acts were fruitless, however, as both boys were persistent and had him pinned to the ground. "Do you…honestly think that you can possibly…get away at this point? You're completely surrounded by my men here!"

"We'll never know unless we try, right?" Daxter questioned smugly as he felt his hands rest upon a handle that was located on Errol's side. With a quick yank and a jerk, he took the item in his small Ottsel hands and saw that it was a knife. "Ohh, it looks like we have your knife now!"

"Give me that!" Jak barked out as he yanked the blade out of his buddy's hands and brought it to Errol's throat, allowing him to get off of the man while keeping him at bay at the same time. "You go and try to find the gun he dropped. And make it snappy!"

"Got it, big guy!" the animal stated as he flashed him a quick smile before going to look for the discarded gun. "Just give me a moment and I'll have it for you in a jiffy!"

"Oh, of all the times to be in a room that's soundproof," the man growled under his breath that Jak nearly missed it. "Then again, it doesn't make any difference. There's no other way out of here than that door we passed through. You two were already dead before you even decided to tackle me down. So what if you decide to kill me here and now? You'll still be trapped here and under our power. This was definitely a poor time to start fighting back, don't you think?"

"I'd rather die trying than doing nothing at all!" the blond exclaimed, taking advantage of the soundproof room to shout and get his point across at the man beneath him while keeping the blade tightly in his hands. "Besides, I kind of wanted to repay you for the nice welcoming party you gave me and Dax a few months ago."

"As if revenge for the events of the past is going to help you now. Do you honestly think that you had a chance against me, even before you found yourself in this situation? Did you really believe that you and your pet would be able to defy and avoid me for so long that I would actually forget about you? Well, let me tell you something boy; I don't easily forget things. Like you, I like to keep grudges, especially on people who dare to embarrass my men in their job. I take it quite personally."

"As if I care about your plans and feelings! Last I checked, you didn't care about mines when you decided to arrest us for no reason and knock me senseless."

"…What do you know? It sounds like we both have something in common there. Who'd have thought that two enemies would share the same thoughts?"

"Trust me, my thoughts aren't anywhere near as twisted and sick as yours is. I don't think about going around the streets and bullying others that look like they could be easily bullied. I rather help them whenever I can instead of knocking them upside the head and taking them to jail."

"I found the gun, Jak!" Daxter, who had been busy looking for the firearm, exclaimed as he picked up the weapon and started to wave around over his head. Apparently, it was not so heavy that it would have caused him to fall back or not have him able to even pick it up at all.

"Good, bring it over here!" Jak ordered him happily as the Ottsel was more than happy to oblige. "That's something we can use once we can get out of here."

"And how are you thinking of doing that?" the animal asked as he arrived at the blonde's side and placed the gun in his free hand. "Unless you can contact someone else from outside from in here, I don't really see how you'll be able to get us out of here."

"Daxter, you're a genius!" the blond exclaimed as he purposely slammed his knee into Errol's chest, causing said man to groan out in pain, as he began to reach into his pocket and took out his communicator. "I can't believe I forgot all about this!"

"Oh yeah, you still have that thing on you!" the animal exclaimed happily as he took the gun back from the teen and pointed it at the commander's head, who was too busy recovering from the sudden pressure on his chest to really notice. "Maybe you can call Sig to come down and bust us out of here."

"As if there's anybody else for me to call now. He's probably the only one who could help me now. He did say that he had connections in the city, so that's our best bet on getting out of here."

After taking a few seconds to press a few buttons with the hand holding the device while still keeping the blade to the commander's throat, he dialed the number that he remembered Sig giving him. Once he did that, he placed it onto his ear and heard it ring only once before it was picked up.

"'Ello!" a gruff voice that could only belong to said man greeted from the other end. "Who's this?"

"It's Jak," the teen said but moved on to his predicament before the man could say anything. "Listen, Dax and I could really use your help here. This Krimson Guard commander called Errol got the jump on us and has taken us to this place that I don't know about."

"What?" Sig was heard shouting on the other end, causing whatever faint background noise he was able to hear to cease. "Are you two alright? Where the hell are you?"

"Don't worry; we're fine," the teen assured the man, taking a quick glance at Daxter and seeing him wince a bit at how loud the man's voice was before bringing his attention back to the commander, who was oddly smiling throughout this whole thing. "And I have no idea where we are right now. All I know is that this place has some kind of aura; the kind that you'd feel when you're in someplace really important. I'm guessing that it might be the place where all the important people of Haven City come to meet and stuff."

"Alright, I think I know where you guys are. Just hang tight and wait until me and my men get there. Don't try anything stupid and get yourselves killed. That's really the last thing I…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of a gunshot was heard echoing throughout the relatively empty room. Jak then felt the communicator leaving his hands and crashing onto the floor. When it had landed, he noticed that it was now completely broken, almost as if something strong had pierced through it. Almost like a bullet…

"Can you honestly not handle a couple of simple children, commander?" a voice coming from the doorway asked in slight disappointment. "I never would have thought that you would've been taken down by vermin such as them."

Startled by both the bullet and the sudden appearance of another person, Jak and Daxter turned their gaze towards the doorway in order to see who it was that had entered. They soon noticed that it was a man, who seemed to be in his late forties, donned in heavy metal armor. His blue tunic showed from underneath it as well as his naturally bulky build. Half of his face was made of metal, almost as if that portion was completely decimated and reconstructed. In his hand was a pistol, one that was pretty much the same Errol used, and was currently trained on the teen. The man also held an overall sense of power about him, one that the blond felt when he first entered the building.

"I'm sorry for the disappointment, sir," Errol apologized as he suddenly seemed to gain some kind of hidden strength and kneed the teen right in the butt, causing him to fly off of him in both shock and pain and to drop the knife at the same time. At the same time, he wrenched the gun out of the Ottsel's hands and smacked him in the same direction as Jak, causing a loud shriek of pain to emit from the animal as he felt himself landing on the teen's body. "I told you that they were different from the average citizen."

"I see now that you were right," the other man replied as he watch the two struggling through the pain and trying to get back onto their feet. "Those two definitely do seem like adequate candidates for the project."

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Once again, I hope that you all enjoyed this new chapter. Something tells me, though, that I better brace myself for another uprising here; if the last chapter wasn't any indication of one before, then I don't know what it was...

Just kidding! I just know that means that you all like the story and can't wait for the next chapter. Boy, don't I just know the most evil ways to keep you all on your toes and reading!

Anyway, don't forget that I'm starting college tomorrow, so expect a slight slowdown in the updating in my stories. Other than that, chapters should still be coming out for this story and the others I'm working on. Please read some of those and leave reviews for them. Of course, don't forget to review this, too. Until the next update, everybody, continue to stay on your toes with this story!


	20. Lost in the Everlasting Darkness

Hello everybody! Sorry for making you all wait a bit for me to update this story. As I said in the previous update, I've started college last week, and things have been a bit crazy since then, what with having to figure out all my classes and having to get familiar with the big campus itself. That's why this chapter was a bit slow in coming up. Just reminding you all that I still have a life going on beyond this wondrous site. That and I have no intention of abandoning any of my stories here. Just be prepared for a slowdown like you have all somewhat witnessed just now.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. After all, I did leave you on a rather interesting note in the last chapter, and I hope that this one will only serve to make things more interesting. Don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading. Until the next review everybody!

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Chapter 20: Lost in the Everlasting Darkness**

"God, that was the second worst place to be kneed in!" Jak groaned out as he slowly placed his hands on the ground and tried to push himself up. He had to do it slowly because it was still pretty painful downstairs in the back; that and he felt Daxter, who had landed on him after receiving a rather hard hit from Errol, trying to get himself up. "You okay, Dax?"

"Except for the burning, stinging sensation on my side, I'm as fine as I could be here," the Ottsel replied, half-sincerely and half-sarcastically. "Then again, you try being my size and being slapped around like a stupid doll! That really hurt, I'm telling you."

"My only regret, then, is that I didn't hit you hard enough," Errol commented as he brought his gun into its proper position in his hands and aimed it at the animal while his companion who had came to his aid had his gun trained on the teen. "Maybe then you would be able to keep your mouth shut instead of running it nonstop."

"Do you honestly mean to tell me that such a pitiful creature such as that can manage to make you lose your temper in an instant?" the other man asked, never once keeping his eyes off of the pair in front of them as he beckoned with his free hand from behind the guards that were standing outside of the door. "I was expecting a rather larger animal to be able to cause your temper to flare up. Oh well, that goes to show that you can't rely everything on what you hear, as I'm sure what I just saw a few moments ago would prove to me."

"That was…embarrassing, to say the least, my liege," the commander stated, his voice clearly resonating the embarrassment he felt at being beaten. All the while, the two teens managed to get to their feet, but did not dare move because of the guns pointed at them and the large distance between the two groups. "However, my good baron, I only hope my blunder will help further prove that this boy is most likely the most suitable candidate for the DEW Project."

"The DEW Project?" Jak asked, daringly trying to get a word in in an effort to at least buy some time for Sig to get here. Even in the pain he was in, he was still able to think with a relatively clear head. That was one of his great talents, and Daxter, who made his way onto the blonde's shoulder, truly respected him for that, so much so that he always stood quiet whenever he knew his buddy was busy trying to put his plan into action. Unless he had any part in it whatsoever, he always stood quiet for those moments, more so over the fact that it was a life-and-death moment than not wanting to disturb the teen in his train of thought.

"Yes, the project that will be your very undoing, my boy," the man, who the two have finally discovered to be the Baron of Haven City after hearing Errol address him as such, stated. "I suppose that you're curious to know what exactly the DEW Project is."

"Not particularly," the teen snarled out as he lightly licked his lips a bit. "I just care about trying to get out of this alive."

"Oh, I'm afraid that's not going to be happening anytime soon. You see, whenever we force someone to participate in this experiment, they either succeed or die in the process, all of which have sadly chose the latter," he added with a menacing hiss, causing both boys to hitch their breaths in surprise and shock. "You see, the project is based on using the energy of Dark Eco, concentrating it, and infusing it into men in order to create super-warriors that can stand up against the Metal Heads. That's why it's called the Dark Eco Warrior Project."

"D-Dark Eco Warrior Project?" both boys exclaimed, clearly surprised and not expecting to hear something like this. Then Jak questioned in a tone strained with disbelief, "Are you telling us that you're actually using something as dangerous as Dark Eco in an attempt to mutate people into other things? Is that what you're seriously trying to tell us?"

"To put it bluntly, yes," Errol answered remarkably calmly, smiling all the more evilly as he said it. "Although, I find that the word 'mutate' is taking things a bit to the extreme. I rather prefer the term 'transformation' instead."

"They're the same thing, you idiot!" Daxter exclaimed angrily. "Using different words to say it doesn't make it sound any better. Believe me when I say that; I've said and done that many times before."

"Ah, then you should know how it feels to hear words that make what you're doing sound worse off than it's supposed to be," the commander stated with a snarl, feeling that he finally managed to turn the Ottsel's own words against him. "Regardless of what word is used to describe this rather intriguing change, it doesn't change what it really is; an upgrade from the seemingly weak and helpless to the great power that we all strive to locate during our pitifully short lives."

"Thankfully, our short lives have wielded the fruits of both our labors and those of our ancestors," the baron stated as he relaxed the hand with the gun and let it fall to his side, all while keeping both his eyes on the two in front of him. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able to take off from where they left off, being that it's been quite difficult to find a suitable host for their project. However, with you under careful watch and imprisonment within this palace, I feel that we just might have found the very person suitable for this project.

"So what say you about this, boy?" the man continued on with an evil smile adorning his mustached face. "Normally, I don't ask my prisoners whether or not they want to partake in this experiment; however, I believe I'm willing to bend that rule a bit to a certain degree."

"Well, don't I feel special now for getting some kind of special treatment from my soon-to-be killer?" Jak responded sarcastically, surprisingly not phasing the baron one bit. "To what do I owe this pleasure of mercy upon your bloodied hands, my good sir?" he continued on in the same sarcastic tone.

"Oh, it's a terrible shame that you must be used for the sake of this experiment. I'm sure that you would have fitted right in with the rest of the Krimson Guard and done a smashing good job at it. It's funny how fate has things already planned out ahead of us, isn't it?"

"Dare I say that I'm happy fate decided to not have them apply for the guard sir?" Errol asked as he not once let his eyes wander away from Jak and Daxter nor did he let his gun waver. "I don't think I'd be able to stand his disobedient behavior and his talking rat's excessive talking."

"Anyway," the baron continued, obviously starting to become impatient ever so slightly, "allow me to grant you with two choices here. One: you surrender yourself for experimentation and it'll all be over quickly. Two: you elect to live for a few more pitiful moments, and in your stead, someone else will be put to the table and you'll be forced to watch them suffer in irrevocable pain."

"…Those are the choices you're giving the big guy here?" Daxter asked with raised eyebrows at the baron's mysteriously all-knowing look on his face. "Uh, I hate to be _rude_ here, but those definitely don't seem like choices he'd be willing to make anytime soon."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be willing to make a decision soon enough," the man stated as he walked up to the blond teen until he was less than a foot away from him while standing out of Errol's shooing range. Then without any warning whatsoever, he brought his hands onto his shoulders as quickly as a bolt of lightning and snatched the orange Ottsel clean off from his perch.

"D-Daxter?" Jak exclaimed but was stopped short from doing anything else before receiving a swift punch to the stomach and soon falling towards the floor. He was soon lying on his side gasping for the loss of air and the amazingly sharp pain that seemed to only get stronger and stronger by the second.

"I wouldn't be doing anything stupid now if I were you," the baron stated as he held a firm grip around the squirming animal's side and squeezed tighter in an effort to make the animal stop moving. "If you do, then I can't guarantee the safety for your dear friend here. If you anger me, my hand just might accidentally tighten up and cause the fragile bones in this animal to snap into pieces like small branches off of a tree, I'm sure that's something that you'd want to avoid now."

"Y-you little…!" the teen gasped out as he felt his pain starting to slowly subside. However, that was quickly replaced with another sharp pain to the stomach again as he felt what seemed to be a steel-tipped boot connecting with him. He quickly recognizing it as what Errol would wear, but the thought quickly left his mind as he once again groaned out in pain and curled up like an armadillo being attacked.

"Jak!" Daxter exclaimed in worry as he tried to worm his way out of the baron's impossibly tight grip. This only resulted in more pressure around his middle and a slight groan on pain exiting his lips.

"That was for all the hell you've put me through just to capture you two," the commander remarked snidely as he finally let his gun rest in its holster. "I'm sure that both the physical and mental pain of this scene won't be something you'll be forgetting anytime soon."

"That's enough, Errol," the baron calmly commanded, despite the look in his eyes clearly showing that he was enjoying the torture they were giving the poor boy. "We don't want Jak here to become broken before he's sent to the operating table. After all, only the fittest of people can stand a remote chance of allowing the Dark Eco to run freely through their body without any repercussions.

"Now allow me to ask you this question again while you grovel on the ground before my very feet: What would you prefer that I do? Would you like for me to get on with you and put you under the knife, so to speak; or would you rather I take another candidate and force you to watch the suffering he'll endure during the procedure? I will say that the choice is completely up to you. And do take note that both you and your pet here will both be dead by the same method, no matter which way you choose."

"Wh-what did you say?" Jak wheezed out between breaths as he struggled to get himself out of his curled position, which happened to be the most comfortable in dealing with the pain as of now. "You're not thinking of…pumping Dax with Dark Eco, too?"

"That was the plan I had in mind, boy," he acknowledged, accidentally letting go of the Ottsel when he bit the man's hand with his little Ottsel teeth. Amazingly, he did not make any sign or movement of discomfort from the action, causing Errol to only look at Daxter as he scampered back to the safety of Jak's shoulder.

While he discreetly nursed his index finger with his thumb, the man added, "After all, if I can get away with creating a Dark Eco warrior out of you, then I can surely hope that this animal here will wield the same results."

"My lord, are you sure that you want to use a creature like him as part of the experiment?" Errol asked, confused as to why his boss would want to choose someone that clearly does not have the makings to be a successful Dark Eco Warrior as a test subject for said procedure. "His attitude should be evidence enough that he clearly can't be a suitable candidate for this. The best he'd probably end up being is a puddle of melted fur and bones once we're through with him."

"Well, I figured quite the opposite on that accord, commander," the baron countered calmly, both now looking at each other and seemingly not paying the two boys any attention whatsoever. That was proven to be wrong, though, when Jak tried to take a step towards them and was rewarded with a bullet from the baron's gun that nearly connected with his leg. The teen quickly stopped his advances, rather that he and Daxter escape unharmed instead of leaving with a potentially crippling injury.

"The only requirements in order for this experiment to have a chance to take off from the ground was to find a suitable candidate that was strong," the baron continued to speak without tearing his eyes off of the commander while keeping his pistol trained at the blond in case he decided to try and move again. "If you think about it deeply, I'd say that they both suit the description quite well, each through their own way."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not really following you on this sir," the commander admitted, now shifting his attention towards the boys and feeling the pent up rage he harbored towards the animal all this time starting to boil over again.. "Just what is it that you're saying about that obnoxious creature of his? Are you really trying to tell me that the animal also carries the traits that we've been looking for so long?"

"That is what I'm saying, although I must admit that it's in a form much different than what we've been looking for all this time. You see, we've always been looking for someone who was strong in the physical sense of the word," the man explained, shooting a quick glance at the blond before moving his eyes over to the Ottsel on the boy's shoulder. "That is where the boy shall fit that hole in our project. However, the animal can also be the one to take his place should he perish during the proceedings. After all, he is strong in both attitude and will."

"I apologize, but I still don't see what it is that you're trying to say here, my lord. Just what is it about the insolent creature's attitude and will makes your intrigue shine so brightly?"

"Have you not noticed it, Errol? I would have thought that you would've known where I was going to after I said that. I suppose that you're still blinded by the rage you have towards the creature. Think about it; he has a defiant attitude, one that clearly reflects his will to go on and to never give up. Surely, those are traits that someone who's strong in mental strength would have. Do you not agree now that he would be a suitable candidate for this now that I tell you this?"

For a moment, Errol was silent as he seemingly thought what was just said to him over in his head. At the same time, the baron kept his eyes trained on the animal while both Jak and Daxter slowly grew more nervous with each passing second under the men's unwavering gaze.

It was apparent to the teen now that there was nothing more he could do at this point. He had done all that he could in trying to escape from this, and the Ottsel seemed to clearly notice this and slumped a bit on his shoulder. All they can really do now was try and stall a bit more, something they were quickly failing in, until Sig came with his men and dragged them out of there.

"…I suppose you're right on that accord, sir," the commander finally answered with a small sigh escaping his lips as he sent a scornful look at Daxter's direction. "If you put it into context of great mental strength and stability, then he could be a suitable rat for the injection process."

"I'm glad that we now see eye to eye on this matter," the baron said, now letting his arm with the pistol falling lightly to his side and turning to face the boys. "Now, where was it that we left off from before you decided that you didn't receive enough of a punishment earlier from Errol?"

"Why don't you try figuring it out for yourself, buddy?" Daxter countered venomously, clearly knowing what it was they had their minds set on doing to the both of them now. "Don't tell me that you're just a big lazy baby who wants somebody to help you every step of the way."

"Although I admire your rather ferocious behavior, I suggest that you watch your tongue when you speak here," the man warned with slightly scrunched eyebrows as he placed a steady hand upon Errol's quickly raised arm that had his gun on it. "I cannot guarantee your safety for much longer if you keep that up."

"Ha, I'd rather be killed here and now and by the hands of my best bud here rather than to be forced into whatever it is that you do with those that you capture and send here!" the Ottsel spat out as he lightly patted Jak's shoulder when he mentioned the part about him being killed.

"…I suppose I've finally found the answer to the question I had previously asked you to remind me about," the baron stated with a small click of his tongue signifying his annoyance at the situation. "Very well, then; it shall be you who will be subjugated to the Dark Eco experiment. Errol, please make sure the boy doesn't do anything in an attempt to resist. If you must, shoot to kill; although I would prefer it if you could try to avoid from doing so."

"I will try, my lord," Errol said with a evil chuckle leaving his lips and accompanying the smile that quickly made his way onto his lips. "I can't make any promises in not killing him if that should happen, though. Who knows just what the boy's planning now that he knows what we're going to do."

At the same time, both Jak and Daxter felt their hearts suddenly start beating a thousand times faster than normal, each beat thumping with such force that it felt like it would burst out from their chests at any moment. However, they managed to keep their outer emotions in check and kept their poker faces on, a feat that was terribly hard for them to do in such circumstances that proved to be more dire than any of the others they have been in before.

"Now then, how would you like for us to proceed with this, boy?" the baron asked as he approached the two with short, quick strides as he outstretched his hand. "Are you going to give up your friend quietly, or are we going to be forced to have a struggle for him? Either way, I will end up having that animal within my grasp once we're through."

"…Well, then it sounds like you're going to have to fight a bit before you can even get your oversized hands on my buddy here," Jak stated as he felt Daxter curl himself protectively along the backside of his neck. "Do you honestly think I'd just give him to you without at least a fight of sorts?"

"I concluded as much on that. You really do have a lot of courage welled up deep within that heart of yours. It's a shame that we'll have to do this the hard way. Oh well, I suppose some things just can't be avoided, no matter how hard you try to make it so."

"And just what do you mean by that?" the blond asked, not daring to move even as the baron continued to advance towards them. However, he was unable to add anything more to that inquiry.

Before he knew what was happening, he suddenly felt a large hand wrapping itself around the front of his throat and quickly lifting him off from the ground. With a startled yelp, Jak desperately tried to fight back against the slowly tightening grip around his windpipe as he tried to figure out how the man could have moved so fast. Unfortunately, it was a fruitless effort and he slowly felt his lungs emptying and begging for air.

"Jak!" Daxter exclaimed, unwrapping himself from the boy's back neck and quickly moving towards the front. "You let him go, you big, stupid no-good-excuse for a rotten-to-the-core baron!" he all but slurred out the words as he made to once again bite the man's hand in an effort to force him to lose his grip.

"I thought you would do that," the baron simply said as he reached up with his free hand and quickly grabbed a hold of the Ottsel once again before he managed to get a bite in. "I knew I could lure you out if your friend was in mortal peril."

With his goal now achieved, the man stole a glance at the blonde's pale face before tossing him aside with little effort as if he were nothing but a rag doll. The teen then landed on the ground a few feet away with a loud thud and a slight grunt of pain.

"Now then, let us get on with the experimentation, shall we?" Errol asked, finally letting his pistol rest for good now that he saw Jak was out of commission and Daxter was once again securely in the grasp of the baron. "Oh, how I've waited for this day to come when either you or your friend there to scream out in bloody agony at the horrors that'll visit you."

"D…D…!" Jak tried to say, but was prevented from doing so due to the pain burning in his throat. He was now able to breath again, but each breath only seemed to burn probably swelling throat. Using one hand to tenderly cup his throat, he slowly got onto his feet. Unfortunately, his aching throat prevented him from doing anything else.

"Don't worry; we'll take good care of your friend here," the commander stated as he pointed to a device behind him that the blond had not previously seen before due to all the hectic things that have happened ever since they first arrived here in the palace. "After all, he will be under our care for the rest of his conscious life.

"And don't worry about being alone without him," he added with a truly twisted smile adorning his lips as the baron continued towards the device. "Your turn will come soon after we're done using him to our satisfaction."

"Let go of me, you big brute!" Daxter protested loudly, his voice echoing throughout the large empty room as he was finally brought to the device and harshly slammed down onto what seemed to be a table of sorts. "I swear to you that you're going to regret this the moment I get out of this!"

"Unfortunately for you, there's nothing for me _to_ regret about this," the baron stated calmly as he kept the Ottsel pinned to the table with one hand, careful to avoid his mouth and sharp teeth, while he used his other hand to input some commands in a nearby computer. "The only thing I truly regret now is not making this thing work for animals such as you that show promise to the DEW Project. Oh well, we can all learn from our mistakes here."

"As if there's anything worthwhile to learn from all this!" the animal bit back as he continued to struggle in a fruitless effort to free himself. "This is your last chance to let me go!"

"I don't believe that you're in a position to be making any threats now," the man replied with a small sigh as he stopped pressing buttons on the device for a few moments as he turned to face the animal. "All I have to do now is push this button and you'll be chained to that table, thus bringing an end to your conscious life. Any last words before we start?"

"Yeah, I got a few words for you. Screw you!"

"Very well then, it's time that we got on with the show."

Upon hearing those words, Jak felt a sudden surge of power coursing through his veins. Ignoring the pain in his throat that was slowly dying down, he tried to dash towards the baron. Unfortunately, he was quickly stopped by Errol, who had anticipated him doing something like that and caught his arm. He then twisted it behind his back in a slightly painful way and took a lock of his blond hair, grasping it tightly at the roots and almost tearing it out in the process.

"And where do you think you're going?" the commander asked, barely whispering the words in the struggling teen's ear. "This is the VIP seat to see just what will be happening to your friend. Trust me; it's the best view to see just what will be happening to you in just a few short minutes."

"Get off of me!" he rasped out as he struggled to no avail to get out of the iron grip he was in. "I said let me go! Daxter!"

And in the next moment, all had turned dark for the teen.


	21. Hope Cloaked Within the Ebon Fog

Hello everybody! Here's another update for this story. Boy, I can't believe that it's almost been two weeks since I last updated this. I've always been able to update within a few days to a week. Well, this just goes to show that college is definitely different from high school.

Anyway, I hope that this new chapter can now finally give answer to those reviewers who were going crazy at me about how Daxter was about to be sent to his dark and evil death. Hopefully, this answer will be adequate for all of you.

And to the one who suggested that Daxter be turned back into a human after going through the Dark Eco project: it's true that two negatives make a positive, but it didn't really make a lot of sense, even though it sounded like a good idea. He already dodged a bullet after falling face-first into an entire pool of Dark Eco. The last thing we need at this point is for something worse to happen to him and force Jak into an emo "I'm giving up on life now" attitude. Good idea, though. And yes, I read all of your reviews and take your words to heart.

I hope that you will all enjoy this new chapter. Thanks for being patient with me while I juggle work, homework, and personal time altogether. Anyway, until the next update everybody!

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Chapter 21: Hope Cloaked Within the Ebon Fog  
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"Wh-what the…?" Jak heard Errol exclaim in nothing short of pure surprise, something that he did not understand. After all, he had just blacked out due to the shock of losing his buddy. How could he even hear the commander say something along the lines of surprise? "Why's it gotten dark all of a sudden? What're the guys in the electrical room doing down there?"

"Damn, now's not the time for this to be happening!" the baron cursed from somewhere in the darkness, presumably at the table the blond remembered him being at last. "Errol, get down to the control room and get the power back on. We can't start until we have some juice running the machines."

It was in this small moment of his brain running on panic mode did he find a single second of clarity. Though this time, he was able to think clearly and figure out that he had not blacked out due to his panic. Rather, there was an outage of sorts and the lights went out as a result of it. Unfortunately, he did not have any time to ponder on anything beyond that, because he felt himself being roughly pushed towards the ground by the hands that were holding him down earlier. Being that it was completely dark, he could not see a thing and failed to break his fall as a result of it.

"Oww!" Jak exclaimed as he fell right on top of his arm with his full weight falling upon it. Amazingly, he managed to survive with nothing than a sore arm, which was great considering the force he put on it with his harsh landing. "You know, you could have just shoved me out of the way instead of pushing me to the ground," he shouted at the assumingly retreating commander as he favored his arm a bit.

Instead of receiving an annoyed snappy comeback from the man, he heard another voice ring out through the ebon blackness. It sounded like it was coming from the baron's position and sounded like a howl of pain accompanied with a slam to the metal table from his hand.

"Damn it!" he howled as a slew of curses soon began to spring out from his mouth. Once the torrent of curses managed to die down somewhat, the sound of his raging voice was heard saying, "He did it again! He bit my damn hand again!"

"Oh, he makes it sound like I bit him in the balls or something like that," Jak heard the familiar sound of Daxter say as he felt the familiar cold padded hands clamper up his leg and towards his shoulder. "I'm telling you, someone really needs to lay down on the decaf a bit."

"Daxter!" Jak exclaimed, looking over his shoulder at where he felt the sudden change in weight even though he knew that he would not be able to see him in this dark curtain that surrounded them. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I am, big guy," the Ottsel said as the teen practically heard his little friend's loud smile. "I did say he was going to be screwed before the lights decided to conk out on him. It was just my luck that he ended up getting screwed over while I'm still alive. Talk about having the Precursors' special miraculous luck of miracles, huh?"

"Definitely something the Precursors would be relieved to see happen," the teen stated with a shuddering breath leaving his lungs as he breathed in the fresh breath of relief. "Now all we have to do is get out of here before the lights come back on."

"Ha, you don't even know the layout of this room, much less the entirety of the grand palace itself!" the voice of the baron exclaimed with a scoff of his breath as his footsteps were heard walking slowly and carefully treading the ground. "Believe me when I say this; there is no way for you two to get out of here alive. Even if you can find your way out of this room, it'd only be a matter of time before you're caught again and brought back here to face the Dark Eco once and for all. There's nothing you can do to stop the inevitable from happening!"

Just then, blindingly bright light started to pour into the room through the only known entrance and exit to the room. Once their eyes managed to adjust to the sudden onslaught of brightness, both boys saw the silhouette of a man they found familiar standing in front of it. Soon after that, they heard the sound of a punch being delivered in conjunction with the commander's yelp of surprise and pain. Apparently, someone either came towards the door at the same time he opened it, of they were waiting behind it the whole time.

Despite whatever was being planned, it was more than obvious that there was a second person on the other side of the door, what with the silhouette of one falling to the ground and another almost immediately taking the fallen one's place. Whether the newcomer was a friend or another enemy was something that both boys were not sure of. For all they knew, they could have been saved by another person that wanted to do the same thing to them or worse.

Suddenly, the shadow moved away from the light source and seemingly disappeared altogether from within the shadows that were still apparent within the room, despite how much light was being produced through the still open door. Then without warning, Jak felt a hand being roughly placed on one of his arms and felt himself being dragged towards the light by some otherwise unforeseeable force, although he did figure that it was the second person dragging him away.

"If you want to live, then keep your mouth shut and follow me out of here!" a voice, this time a female's, thus confirming that it was the other person that had just come in, silently whispered hastily as she continued to drag the blond teen towards the door and towards their only chance at freedom from this palace.

"Just what in the world is going on there, commander?" the baron demanded, his voice still in the same place it had been ever since the outage occurred and seemingly not moving anywhere. "What happened to you?"

"S-somebody got me, my lord!" Errol responded back, the sound of him scurrying to get back onto his feet while groaning in slight pain at the same time. "Someone must've been waiting behind the door for one of us to open it."

"Do you suppose that this unusualness was all simply planned?" the baron asked his voice now heading towards the doorway.

"I have a good feeling as to who it was that did this," the commander replied as part of his arm was shown through the light. However, the woman that was dragging both Jak and Daxter towards the door took this opportunity to place another punch at the man, causing him to fall over in pain once again.

"Wow, this chick definitely has some moves on her," the Ottsel commented with a low whistle as he cast a quick glance behind him at the commander that looked to now have a bloody nose lying on the ground trying to regain his bearings. "I think I'm definitely starting to fall for our daring rescuer here."

"Daxter!" the blond groaned out in almost a whining tone at his buddy's attempt a feigning love while they were supposed to be running for their lives.

"Listen to my directions carefully if you want to live to see another day," their woman rescuer, who they now saw had long dark red hair that looked to have a natural braided formation to it, stated quickly as she led them down a corner and quickly hid them behind a ridiculously large potted plant. She was dressed in a one-piece jumpsuit that was primarily dark blue with streaks of red running along the side down to the legs and along her arms and a leather belt that seemed to house a gun along her waist. "You both will hide out here quietly until I can draw the attention of the guards away from here. Once I do that, you'll make your way down this hallway and hide out in the courtyard until Sig gets to your position. And before you say anything, I rather that you stay in a well-covered place like the courtyard rather than wandering around and getting yourselves caught again."

"Uh, o-okay," Jak stuttered, unsure of what to say and barely catching even the key points she was trying to get across. "So we hide out in the courtyard, right?"

"I'm sure you already heard it the first time around," the woman answered in an annoyed tone as she quickly got out from behind the tall potted plant and moved as conspicuously away from it as she could. "Just hold still for a minute before you move down the _opposite_ direction I'm about to head. Get yourself caught and it'll definitely be the end of you, so don't mess this up."

Before either of the boys could get another word in to her, she disappeared down the hallway she led them through and proceeded to do whatever it was that she was supposed to be doing. All they could do was stay crouched behind a large indoor plant wondering if they should really listen to whatever it was she directed them to do.

"…You know, it would've been good if we've been able to see our beautiful rescuer's face at least once," Daxter stated with a sigh that could almost equal that of reminiscence and regret. "I'll bet you that she's the most beautiful thing that I'll ever lay eyes on."

"I suggest that you remember what we talked about a few months ago before you continue on with your senseless drabble," Jak warned as he shot a quick glance at the Ottsel on his shoulder before peeking his head from behind their hiding spot to check if the coast was clear. "You know how much I hate it when you start going on about how pretty a girl is while not being serious at the same time. You promised me that you were not going to do that anymore, remember?"

"Yeah, well this is different," the animal defended as he saw his buddy immediately jumped out from their hiding spot and make his way down the opposite direction of the hallway just as the woman had directed them to do. "This woman actually managed to save our butts from being put to death by Dark Eco. At the least, I want to see the face of the person who saved us from our doom. Don't you agree with me on that?"

"I suppose you're right on that," the teen agreed reluctantly, feeling that that was just a way to justify what his buddy was doing, as they neared a corner and he sidled along the wall. "However, I think that should the least of our worries right now. What we should be worried now is how we're going to make sure we get out of this alive until we meet up with Sig in the courtyard, or so the woman said."

"I agree with you on that, big guy. Just please make sure that you don't get the both of us caught in here. I really don't want to be going back to that hot tempered commander and his cyborg leader anytime soon."

"You and me both; especially since they said they have Dark Eco in there ready for their crazy experiment in transforming people into monsters," the blond stated after peeping his head around the corner to check if the coast was clear and continuing down the hallway. "I still can't believe that they're doing something like that."

"Well, everybody's got to have a hobby, and this just happens to be theirs, despite how disgustingly crazy it is," the animal stated sarcastically as he saw the telltale signs of the courtyard quickly coming into their view.

"Oh, surely you don't mean that, do you my fine animal?" a voice suddenly questioned as they just entered the courtyard that was beautifully adorned with fresh and healthy green plants from simple grass to tall trees reaching out up towards the open rooftop. "Like you said, a hobby's a hobby, although no hobby can be disgustingly crazy, or so you so nicely worded it. It can only at best be different and eccentric."

"Who's there?" Jak exclaimed, immediately shifting to defensive mode and scanning his surroundings for the owner of the voice. "What do you want with us?"

"Oh, I don't 'want' anything from you or your rambunctious pet," the voice, whom they now figured belong to a man with its slight gruffness and easily flowing words being clear indications of it. "Rather, I would like for the two of you to 'volunteer' yourselves to our ever wondrous experiment, one that I have personally built myself with my own funding and personal time, mind you."

"So you're the creator of this stupid experiment with Dark Eco," the blond stated more than asked, still trying to locate the man while staying on the defensive as he continued to look all around him with Daxter trying to aid him on that front.

"I believe that you misunderstood what I said," the man, who now sounded to be approaching closer, answered, a smile clear in his tone. "I only said that I built the mechanical part of the experiment with my time and money. I never said that I created the actual concept of imbuing helpless people with the powers associated with Dark Eco. However, I can see why simple children such as you would think otherwise on the subject."

"What did you just call us?" Daxter retorted, perking up his ears up in an attempt to try and figure out just where the voice was coming from. He then twisted his head towards a small bunch of trees situated in the center of the courtyard, causing the blond to do so as well. "We aren't just a couple of simple children. The two of us are two halves of a lean, mean fighting machine. I bet you that that's not what your typical children would be capable of."

"Ha, you sure have a lot of spunk in you for someone so young! That in combination with your friend's extremely daring attitude make a group that I've only seen in the Resistance. That is truly a trait that seems to have been lost to everybody in this city over the years, a trait that I detest our enemies having. Oh well, no matter how hard you beat the oppression down, there's always going to be that certain someone who rises up from the burnt down ashes of their ancestors like a phoenix does when it reaches the end of its life."

Once the man finished making that analogy, he saw it fit to finally make himself known to the two teens. Just as Daxter had figured with his hearing, the owner of the voice came out of his seclusion from the trees in a calm manner, almost as if there was nothing serious going on around him.

He was a balding man who donned a long blue tailcoat with a pair of grayish blue pants that paired nicely with his light brown vest that covered his white shirt which was only seeable from the cuffs underneath his coat. Around his neck was a red scarf that looked to function as a cravat, the only bright color that clearly stood out from his entire attire.

To complete his entire ensemble, he held in his hand a small staff with a simple red gem embedded on its top. Yes, it was but a simple wooden stick that could not even double up as a walking cane if needed, but it clearly reflected power and seemingly imbued its beholder with such strength with its simple yet powerful aura.

"Unfortunately, you two are just as human as any other normal citizen of this slowly dying city," the man responded as he stood facing them, his light bluish gray boots softly crunching the grass underneath him and slightly soaked with water that seemed to have been saturated into the dirt. "Unlike the miraculous phoenix, you both only have one life to call your own and are forced to make it count. The generational phoenix may have made its appearance here, but its magic is about to be stripped away from it, forcing it to die for the final time."

"Uh…, I think we're right now standing in front of an insane guy here Jak," Daxter said, raising an eyebrow at the man in front of them as he continued to stare down at the bald man. "Why is this guy talking about things that we have no idea about and is probably only a figment of people's imagination in this city? That's the kind of vibe I'm getting from him here, and we've only seen him for thirty seconds.

"Who are you?" Jak asked in an incredibly blunt fashion, choosing to ignore the Ottsel's comment and concentrating on how to stall for time until Sig decided to show his face. "What connection do you have with the baron and the palace?"

"Ever the curious one, aren't you? Oh well, some things are probably destined to never change. And you also managed to pick up a great sense for figuring things out to the bare skin, stripping away all that covers the ugly truth's real face.

"My name is Veger," the man continued on, disregarding the ever strange looks he was quickly gathering from the two as he introduced himself with a small bow that could not be discerned as being introductory or sarcastic. "It's Count Veger, however, to the likes of vermin like you. I'm a member of the Haven City grand council and the head councilman of the group. Of course, I'm sure that you've already figured on that, being that you have the uncanny ability to strip away the lies and figure out the truth within the blink of an eye."

"All I do is trust my instincts and what it tells me," the blond responded, never once letting his eyes leave those of the man's near piercing brown ones. "I've learned over the years that I should always follow what my gut tells me. Nine times out of ten it has proven to be correct; this time serves no exception to that."

"Boy, that's some instinct you got on you, big guy," the animal replied with a low whistle, knowing that Jak was simply trying to stall for time and was playing along with it without giving off any signs of their plan and sealing off any holes that might give off an indicator to it. "Your super instincts along with my incredible luck sure make a great combination, doesn't it?"

"Those childish antics won't get you anywhere with me," the count replied as he shook his head at the two. "You may have managed to ruffle the commander's feathers a bit with that cocky attitude of yours, but I'm afraid that it doesn't work against me. After all, being the head councilman requires me to be calm in even the most trying of times."

"Oh boy, looks like we've got another stuck up guy talking to us," the Ottsel quickly interrupted with an overdramatic sigh. "So you're saying that even if death was staring you right in the face, you'd still be acting all high and mighty Vegan?"

"It's Veger, and I don't feel that I have to answer to the likes of you. After all, the only thing worse than vermin is a poor vermin, and I answer to neither of them."

"Then why don't you just let us go if you don't want anything to do with us?" Jak asked as he noticed that that man was acting too suspiciously calm in front of an enemy he does not even know might be armed. "I'd think it'd be easier on the both of us if you would just pretend that we never saw each other?"

"So you're saying that I would commit perjury against my fellow comrades and say that you never once slipped by me?" Veger asked with an amused raise of his eyebrows as an evil smile began to grace his lips. "My dear boy, that isn't something that I can do. For one, I could easily lose my standing amongst my fellow councilmen."

"Oh, wouldn't that be a boon for us if that were to happen to you now," Daxter stated as he immaturely stuck his tongue out at the self-proclaimed count. "I don't know what it is that you do here, but I don't think I'd really want to find out anytime soon."

"Secondly, you, my blond boy, are too good of an opportunity to be able to slip through my fingers that easily," the man continued on as he ignored the childish gesture aimed at him. "It isn't every day that I'm able to come across a child such as you, you know?"

"Here they are!" someone was heard shouting that the top their lungs as the sound of heavy feet made itself known within the courtyard. "Are you alright, Count Veger?"

"What the?" Jak exclaimed as he looked around him and saw a couple of Krimson Guard soldiers running towards him and Daxter with their big guns drawn and trained directly at them. He then returned his gaze towards the count with realization and stupidity reflecting within his eyes. "You had this planned out all along, didn't you? You took a gamble at us chancing to pass by here and trying to paralyzing us with your pointless discussion."

"You really do have a knack for thinking on your feet and quickly coming up with either a correct or suitable answer through a quick visualization of your surroundings," Veger stated as the sound of more men was heard fast approaching their position. "Unfortunately for you, you chose to lollygag around and placed yourself in this situation. If anybody is to blame for where you're at right now, it'd have to be aimed directly at you, I'm afraid."

"_Damn, the guy definitely played me for a fool here!_" the blond thought with a vocal growl as he mentally face-palmed his forehead. "_He only came here in hopes of seeing us and pose himself off as nothing more than a simple distraction. I can't believe I actually fell for that! I mean, I know it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference since we were supposed to wait here for Sig, but I still could have at least been able to try and see what the guy was thinking._"

"_I really can't believe that he actually had us in the palm of his hand the moment we got in here,_" Daxter groaned out as his ears drooped so much so that it practically melded with his skull. "_He actually managed to suck us into his conversation and keep us there in less than a minute. He definitely has to have some skill with vocal manipulation if he was able to outwit someone like you._"

"Now then, I believe it's time that you stop running around and accept the hand that fate has dealt you," the count stated as a few more guards entered the courtyard and surrounded the two boys along with the others. He then made a quick pointing action with the tip of his staff before retracting it back and saying, "You've played well with a hand worth close to nothing, but now is the time to stop drawing the game out and admit defeat. You shall now be re-subjugated to the Dark Eco Project. And now, may the Precursors have mercy upon you."

"Oh, shove those blessing-turned-curses of yours down that pompous throat of yours," the Ottsel spat out venomously as his lips curled up into a snarl. "We ain't ever going to be admitting defeat to the likes of you any time soon. You said that our hand in this wondrous card game of luck's worth nothing, but if you combine both mines and my buddy's here, I'll bet you that it'd end up being the most unstoppable one."

"If that's a fact, then I have yet to see it come to fruition. Ever heard that luck also plays a major role in a game like this? I, for one, don't need any luck since I have all the power of Haven City behind me, second only to the Lord Baron Praxis, of course."

"It's nice to hear that coming straight from the count's mouth," a rough voice spoke up, cutting through the scene unfolding in the courtyard. "Now I know where I need to shovel my extra luck to; not that I had any doubts on where to side with in the first place."

Suddenly, a couple of shots were heard echoing within the area, a couple of soldiers falling towards the ground in conjunction with the sharp sounds. More shots were heard, this time coming from the Krimson Guard themselves against the opposing side that had suddenly decided to make themselves known.

"The Resistance!" Veger exclaimed as he quickly ran towards one of the hallways opposite of his current position and away from where the shots were being directed towards. "Always coming at the worst of times and being a persistent thorn on my side." As he passed by Jak and Daxter, he stole a glance at them before continuing on his way, saying to them as he left, "Just you wait boys! One of these days, we will get your hands on you and you will succumb to our experiments. Your luck won't continue to be blessed by the Precursors at every unfortunate turn you take."

And with that warning that also doubled up as a pure threat, the count ran out through the opposite hallway with his short wooden staff in hand, his tailcoat fluttering behind him and lost at the turn of a corner. Now, all the boys had to worry about were the guards going trigger happy with their guns and trying not to get in between their line of firing lest they wanted to lose their lives here.

"Alright, who wants some more of the Resistance bulldozer?" the familiar rough voice asked as the last of the Krimson Guards fell over, either in death or merely wounded. "I guess none of you guys can handle a powerhouse like me."

With those words, the two teen's rescuers finally decided to allow his self to become known to them now that the coast was clear. With his humungous gun held in both his hands, the familiar and much appreciated form of Sig came out from his hiding space from a hallway corner and approached the boys.

With his reassuring smile beaming at them, the boys were finally able to breath out a sigh of pure relief, although it was not a stretch to say that they were also confused as to why he was even here in the first place, being referred to as a member of the Resistance, a group that they have been trying to locate all this time under the instruction of Samos ever since they first arrived here at Haven City.


	22. The Grand Escape from Haven City Palace

Hello everybody! Here's a new update for this story. Sorry again for not updating this sooner, but as you already know, college is being a thorn in my side in regards to this. Oh well, I hope that his chapter can more than make up for the big lapse of time in the updates. Please don't forget to leave a review of this chapter once you're done. I'd like to know what you all think about this scene and if it was any good.

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Chapter 22: The Grand Escape from Haven City Palace**

"Oh, you don't know how happy I am to see you here, Sig!" Daxter practically shouted out, so relieved at the sight of a friendly face that he did not seem to see the fact that the man was here was somewhat strange. "You sure took your sweet time getting here, didn't you? We had to be saved by a woman, and a nice-looking woman at that, from this weird place we were in where they were going to put Dark Eco in both me and Jak here before you even decided to show up. We were almost tortured there because of your lagging, you know?"

"Nice to see you, too, my little furry bundle of joy who just can't seem to keep his nose and his good friend out of trouble for just one second," Sig stated with a slight humorous edge to his voice as he walked over to the two teens from his position near the hallway where he came from and gunned down the Krimson Guards; some had managed to survive the assault and were now on the floor either groaning in pain or sleeping the eternal sleep with pools of crimson blood forming around each lifeless body.

Instead of the casual wear the two were used to seeing him in whenever he visited them at their apartment or when they had their friendly outings, he was now wearing what appeared to be only a tight shirt that easily showed off his well muscle-toned body that had his shoulders covered with metal shoulder plates on each. His muscular arms were both bare of any clothing and his hands were covered in a pair of dark blue gloves, both of which were holding onto his trademark humungous automatic rifle that both teens knew of him to be carrying around. His pair of gray pants were hardly noticeable; only the top section of them were visible while the lower half were covered with knee high combat boots that were covered with protective metal from the entire shin and on the tops and tips of the feet. There was also some protective metal just underneath the backside of the knee that was connected to the upper portion of the shin guard. Lastly, his silver hair was showing, semi-long down to the midsection of his neck and looking a bit wild from the running he had no doubt did earlier just to get here. Overall, he looked like he just quickly put on half of his battle gear and ran out the door in an attempt to help the two out once he had received their call for help.

"Boy, you look a bit like a mess there," the Ottsel stated once he finally calmed down enough and managed to take a rather quick glance at the muscle man standing in front of him and his buddy. "It's almost like you were in a rush to get here that you just grabbed whatever you could and ran out the door without wasting any time."

"That's because that was exactly what I did when Jak called me earlier saying that he and you were in this palace," the buff man replied as an answer to the Ottsel's statement as he stopped a couple of steps away from the two and looked at the results of his handiwork. He then answered the furry creature's earlier statement, "And yes, I know you were saved by Ashelin earlier. I asked her to help me out with the rescue operation since I was afraid I wasn't going to make it in time before they did their sick experiments on you two. It sounds like my hunch was right, as it usually is."

"So that's her name, is it?" the small animal asked, his mind now officially straying off from the main concern at hand and now busy thinking about their mysterious heroine from earlier. However, he remembered his promise to Jak a few months ago about trying to not act so flirtatious and, in his blond buddy's words, disgraceful about them and kept his mind in check on that accord. "You know, I was going to ask for her name before she decided to just leave us behind some overgrown houseplant and giving us nothing except instructions to run to this part of this palace in order to meet you."

"Are you a part of The Resistance Sig?" Jak asked, being unusually blunt with his question as he walked the last few steps towards the man who was slightly taken aback by the tone used on him. "Before we escaped that torture chamber of theirs, the baron and Errol said something about the power outage being the work of The Resistance. That and the woman the both of them had identified as one of the members of the group specifically stated your name before leaving us to do whatever it was that she was to do. If she is a part of the group, then you should be a part of it, too, since she knows your name and specifically told us to wait for you here."

"Ha, that must have been a really good guess on their part," the man stated with a good chuckle escaping his lips. "That and we're really the only people who're crazy enough to go against somebody like the baron and his group of people. I suppose it was only natural for them to think that it was us causing all this trouble and confusion for them. And I really can't believe how fast that mind of yours can process things even while under the most stressful of situations," he added with a tone of amazement and proudness reverberating in his voice. "That's really a good head that you have set over your shoulders along with an animal with great instincts standing there, you know that?

"Anyway, I suggest that you take a hold of that gun and follow me out of this place," he continued with his voice now quickly changing to portray a sense of rushing and urgency as he turned around and headed back down the hallway he came from earlier. Before he did that though, he handed the young blond teen a regular sized black and silver pistol that looked to have been specially modified with a semi-automatic feature built into it along with an extended chamber to accommodate for the rapid loss of ammo from the enhancement. "I promise that I'll personally explain things to you once we're safe, but let's just concentrate on getting out of here alive. Think you can hold off with the interrogation until then?"

"Alright, but I want you to tell me everything once we're out of here," the teen sighed as he started to follow closely behind the man, making sure to always have him in his sights so he will not be lost in this big humongous place that could probably double up as a maze. "I want to know what it is that you've been hiding from us all this time. I want to be able to know whether or not you're really somebody I can trust."

Instead of answering, the silver haired man simply nodded his head in a barely noticeable way as he kept his gaze in front of him, making sure that none of the Krimson Guards decided to suddenly appear in front of them and perform some kind of attack.

"My, aren't we being a bit overly blunt and direct today?" Daxter asked sarcastically, occasionally turning his head behind them from his shoulder perch to see if any other guards were following them and trying to get the drop on them as they ran down the hallway as quickly as they could. "Mind telling me what's gotten you so worked up ever since Sig decided to make his graceful mug known to us here? I figured that you'd be happier than this when you saw him saving us."

"I just can't believe he kept that fact away from us," Jak murmured as he made a quick check at the bullet cartridge to see if there were any bullets in it before cocking it and getting it ready for some action. "We've known each other for a few months already, and he never told us that he was a part of The Resistance, a group that I clearly told him we were looking for all this time."

"Oh, I'm sure the big guy had his reasons for not telling us, even if we did make buddy-buddy with him real quickly and all that," the animal suggested with a shrug of his shoulders as he watched the man ahead turn a corner with his buddy following suit a second later. "I don't think we were the most trustable people in this city being that we were a couple of newcomers without any good explanation as to how we even got here without having him and Tess think we were nothing more than a couple of nut jobs that managed to escape from some kind of crazy house somewhere."

"I suggest that you two girls back there stop talking and start paying more attention here," Sig stated as he quickly shot two guards that had made themselves known in front of their path. "In case you've forgotten, we're still in hot water here, and we don't have time to be getting distracted."

"As if I didn't already know that Sig," the blond simply stated as he subconsciously saw Daxter turn his head behind him and did the same. He then saw and quickly pulled the trigger at a guard that had managed to catch up to them, expelling three shots from the nozzle of the weapon and forcing the targeted man to the ground with a shout of pain. "Dax and I have already been in even hotter water before this rescue operation even started."

"No need to remind me about that buddy," the orange animal stated as he saw the blond quickly take care of another oncoming guard at their tail. "That's the last thing I want to be remembering right now. I'd rather remember the time I embarrassed you instead of almost being tortured and killed."

"…Anyway, how much longer until we're finally out of this place?" the teen asked with a quick change in topic as he quickly turned around and took out another guard in front of them that was trying to take Sig by surprise, an act that would have worked since he was busy taking care of three others at the same time. "I don't want to end up getting caught by that commander again, especially since you went through all this trouble to plan out this entire thing and help us get out of here."

"At the rate we're going, it shouldn't take too much longer," the man said without any hesitation as he gave a quick nod of thanks to the teen for earlier. "And thanks for keeping an eye out for me there."

As the man was saying this, they were still in the same hallway that seemed to stretch on for miles on end without any signs of it stopping. Soon enough, they ended up having the sights of another clearing, this time looking more like it was indoors rather than another indoor garden setting, within their line of vision. Unfortunately, this entire area seemed to be swarming with a countless number of soldiers clad in crimson red armor. Fortunately for them though, they all seemed to be preoccupied with someone or something else that was in there with them and could care less if they had happened to enter the fray.

"Sounds like our diversions are going pretty well," Sig murmured under his breath more to himself than to the two teens as he cracked a rather cocky smile at the scene in front of him. "I just hope that blondie can handle all this action and excitement on him. Only the Precursors can stop him from getting in over his head."

"Blondie?" the Ottsel asked with a raised eyebrow as he saw one of the guards from the horde in front of them turn his head towards them. Unfortunately for the man, he was only allowed a quick one-second look before having a bullet penetrate his chest armor, forcing him to the ground with a grunt of pain. Not even a second later, a somewhat short man, who happened to have the same color of hair that Sig mentioned earlier, popped into their view with what looked to be a black rifle resting in his hands."

"Hey Sig, did you secure the target yet?" the man asked, taking down a couple more guards with his gun as the three were about to enter the rather hectic scene in front of them. "I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed and overworked here. I still can't believe that you only thought of bringing me here on this crazy recovery mission with you. I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"Oh, stop with your complaining Jinx; I got the both of them right here with me," the buff man answered the other person, a man the two teens learned to be called Jinx and saw that he had shorter and better tamed blond hair on him. "Radio in Ashelin and tell her that we're almost out of here."

"I sure hope you appreciate the both of us risking our lives just to do this for you," the other person stated as he took a radio with free hand and continued to shoot down more guards with his rapid-fire gun in his other. "I still can't believe that you actually convinced me, of all people, to help you pull off this crazy stunt."

"Since when have I not appreciated anything that you've done for me?" Sig asked rhetorically as he decided to play a part in the diversion scheme and take out a few Krimson Guards. "Besides, you did owe me one when I asked you to help me on this. Just think of it as just returning a favor to a good friend."

"I'm guessing that he's also a part of The Resistance, right?" Jak asked as he started his shooting rampage while Daxter was busy trying to stay low on his shoulder so as to not be hit by any stray bullets that might come their way.

"Do you really have to ask that?" the man simply replied as he managed to make a clearing through the sea of crimson armor for them to run through with his bout of continuous firing upon the crowd. "Right through that group of soldiers is our way out of here. Run through it and try not to get shot by a stray bullet in the process."

"That sounds a whole lot easier said than done, buff guy," Daxter retorted as he literally felt a bullet whiz right by his ear and missing him by barely an inch. "Why don't you go ahead and do it first since you're the one who suggested it in the first place? Makes a lot more sense than sending us in first like a couple of guinea pigs."

"Who said anything about you going into that mess first?" the other blond man said as he put his radio back into his loose dull green pants pocket. "You and the pretty boy underneath you are the reason why I'm even here in the first place. It'd kind of defeat the purpose if you went first and end up getting yourself killed. Besides, I think I have an idea that's better than Sig's run-through-the-killer-mob plan."

Before he said anything else, he quickly reached into his pocket once more and pulled out an oval-like object that was green in color and had what looked like to be a pin with a hoop at the end of it. He then put a finger in the ring hanging from the pin and pulled it out, throwing the item into the remaining crowd of Krinson Guards right after doing so. And as if to add some personal flair to the action, he immediately turned to face the other three that were still behind him, the two teens watching him while the big muscle guy was busy shooting down a few stray guards on their tail. He then crossed his arms with a cockily confident look on his face and allowed his entire body to become lax and resemble an almost lazy attitude.

The next thing everybody heard was the deafening sound of an explosion occurring in the same spot where the blond man had thrown the object earlier. Sig paid it no mind, but Jak and Daxter immediately focused their attention to where the object was thrown and saw a big black cloud along with a few splotches of orange that looked a lot like flames in the mix. Along with this sight was the sound of a few guards groaning in great pain, all of them visually obscured by the black smog-like cloud.

"Now that's what I call good housecleaning!" Jinx stated as he shot a cocky smile and rubbed the tip of his nose in a rather smug fashion. "Housecleaning with a nice explosive flair added in order to liven things up a bit. Remember boys; this is how you would want to clear a herd of dummies the easy way."

"Are you really saying that thing was supposed to be a bomb?" Daxter exclaimed as he continued to gawk at the cloud that had started to thin up a bit and show what it was that it was concealing. "That round thing you threw at them sure didn't look like one to me. It looked more like you were throwing them a ball or something."

"Well, you ain't ever seen a bomb until you've seen one of my beauties," the blond man said with a hint of proudness in his voice as he shot a few random shots into the cloud of smog for good measure in case there were any guards that managed to survive the blast and were merely using the cloud to their advantage. "They can blow things up better than what you can find in your regular third-rate weapons store here."

"Can we please talk about this later?" Sig asked as he took the liberty of running through the decimated crowd first and heading towards the exit. "I would like to get out of here before they manage to get the power back on. I don't want to go about facing their electrical defense systems right now."

"Point taken," the short man said as he readied his gun and motioned for Jak and Daxter to follow after the buff man first. "You and your pet rat first, pretty boy."

"Why does everyone here insist on calling me a rat?" the Ottsel asked as the blond teen started running after Sig, making careful sure to keep his eyes and ears trained on whatever hostility that might make itself known. "Do I even look anything remotely close to a rat or something?"

"It's either that or not many people here know that you're really an Ottsel and think that you just happen to look like an furry orange, overgrown rat," the teen stated in a joking manner as he caught the sight of red at the corner of his eye and quickly shot at it before it could do anything else besides coming into his line of vision. "Just don't let it get to you and help me figure out whenever there are more guards trying to kill us, okay?"

"You can count on me with that, big guy!" the animal stated as he pricked his ears up and tried to pick up sounds that did not fit with what they were doing. "Just make sure you don't get us shot while you're running and I'll take care of my end of things."

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you," Jinx said as he caught up to the two and was keeping the rear clear of any danger. "Ashelin made sure that the electrical system for this place won't be coming back on anytime soon before she rescued you out of that place. Sig didn't just call her up so she could just get you out of there before he could get to you, you know?"

"And he said that I was the one with a level head here," Jak said as he thought about how little time he gave the man to react to his rather sudden call for help. "He's the one who managed to come up with all this in time that only the Precursors know before he rushed over here with you."

"Well, thinking fast is one of his specialties," the man said as they finally made it to the other side of the black cloud, which surprisingly stretched out for a long way, and entered another hallway that was shorter than the rest and lead to another large opening that had a huge door housed in it. "After all, it was one of the skills he needed in order to survive in the desert outside of these walls during all of those recon missions where the Metal Heads dominate. He definitely wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for that."

"If you don't mind, can you guys please hurry up back there?" Sig called back as he momentarily stopped in front of the door and simply stared at it before running off to the side where there was a control panel of sorts sitting against the wall with many buttons on it. "I would like for my self-proclaimed mission here to go without a hitch so I can receive less of an earful of hell from Torn. I'm sure I'm already in enough trouble as it is with the man without you three talking to each other and waiting for someone to come and kill you."

"Well, sorry for wanting to just know the kid a bit better Sig," the blond man apologized sarcastically as he all but pushed the two teens into the small clearing that happened to be clear of any hostilities and kept watch over the hallway they came from, the only way in and out of the area they were in sans the huge door in front of them. "You know that this could very well be our first and last time seeing each other, so I just would like to see if he's anywhere near interesting or not."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll find us more than interesting," Daxter said as he breathed a sigh of relief, already feeling like they were officially out of trouble despite the fact that they have yet to even leave the building yet. "We can definitely hold our own against these stupid Krimson Guards and can easily take down their precious baron and commander if we wanted to. Don't think that we're afraid to go up against them like all of the other cowards here in this city."

"A pretty cocky attitude you got there. I think I'm already starting to like you. And what about your big buddy? What's he got to say about all this?"

"Do you really want to hear me repeat the same thing Dax just said to you?" Jak asked, finally able to relax by leaning against the wall ever since leaving that Dark Eco torture chamber. "My response is basically the same as his; we've both had our fair share of troubles back in Sandover before the two of us even came here. This is pretty much the same thing to us, if not only a little bit more dangerous and closer to death. Actually, it's a lot closer to death than I would like it to be."

"Ha, that's a likely story, buddy," Jinx simply scoffed at the explanation given to him as he immediately brought his gun up and shot through the hallway at a few guards that had started to come through towards them. "What are you going to be telling me next? Are you going to say that you managed to take out Gol and Maia, the Dark Eco Sage and his younger sister from a couple of hundred years ago that decided to try and take out the world with the very thing they were to discover more about?"

"And what would you say if we were to say yes to that?" the Ottsel asked in a sly yet curious tone. "I don't really see what's wrong with us saying that we did that."

"Either you're too full of yourself to really hear what I just said or you're just choosing to ignore it altogether," the blond man stated in an annoyed tone from both the feeling of having to repeat himself and at the persistent guards. "Sig, are you anywhere near close to getting that damn door open yet?"

"You wanna try opening this door when there's no power to even make this piece of crap machine work at full capacity?" the buff man growled as he fiddled around with some kind of black box with wires connected to the panel that neither of the teens saw him with before he went to the controls. "This portable battery can only power up so much at one time. It doesn't make things work as fast as you like them to be."

"Well, I'd appreciate it if it could just move a bit faster. These guys here are really starting to get damn persistent with us. I'm telling you, it's almost like they have some kind of infinite soldier cheat on this palace and just keep sending out more."

"Wait a minute!" the young blond teen exclaimed before deciding to put his gun up on the front lines and start shooting away at the still oncoming guards. "Did you just say that the Gol and Maia incident actually happened two hundred years ago?"

"I'm glad to hear that somebody was paying attention here. That's exactly what I said. I'd rather though that we talk history once we get ourselves out of this mess."

"Okay, I got it boys!" Sig exclaimed as he practically pounded down one of the buttons and an electronic sound was heard along with the sound of a lock becoming undone. "Let's hurry and get ourselves out of here. Hurry up and use that other grenade on you Jinx!"

"Way ahead of you, Sig," Jinx stated as he had already thrown the second grenade down the hallway and started running towards the now open door with Sig shooting like nuts outside with his automatic rifle. Within another second, the sound of an explosion was heard behind Jak and Daxter, who had followed closely behind the blond man when he made a dash for the door. "It sounds like they managed to get their act together and form up against us out there. Oh well, I guess it's time for me to try out my new experimental grenade here."

"Don't tell me that you actually brought that failure of a grenade with you for testing purposes?" the buff man exclaimed as they could easily see him mentally face palm his forehead while quickly taking cover against one of the heavy metal doors from the oncoming bullets; both the teens and the blond man followed suit in this action. "You know what happened the last time you tried to use it, do you?"

"Don't worry, big guy; I made sure to fix that little problem," the man said as he took out another grenade from his pocket. Instead of it being green in color though, it was now a dark blue. "It shouldn't be giving us all a quick one-second tan that'll last for more than a week."

"What?" Daxter exclaimed, clearly taken aback at what he just heard being exchanged between the two men. "You're not seriously planning on tanning the guys to death, are you?"

"Take out the tanning, replace it with flash blinding, and you got it right on the money. And Sig, I'm sure that you'll like the new modification I put on it yesterday. Now let's see if they can handle something like this!"

Without wasting any time, Jinx threw blindly threw the grenade into the crowd of Krimson Guards that were still shooting at them from outside while Sig and Jak took care of the few that managed to make their way through the still thick explosive cloud from earlier. Moments later, both the small handful of sooty guards and those from outside gave out a shout of pain as a blinding light suddenly appeared from out of broad daylight, temporarily blinding anybody who had the misfortune to look directly at the source of the light at the time it decided to show up.

"See, I told you that I toned it down a whole lot more," the blond man stated with pride in his voice as he poked his head outside to see all of the guards outside and some passersby groaning in pain and covering their blinded eyes. "Now only those who happen to be very near or looking directly at the light when it explodes will be blinded. And as you can see from the couple of innocent people I accidentally pegged," he added in a tone that showed he really did not care for it, "the light's not so strong to give you a week long tan."

"Wow, you really did manage to fix it," Sig stated in surprise as he exited through the palace doors first and did a quick check to see if all of the guards outside were indeed momentarily blinded. "You always had a mind for anything that has to deal with explosives, you know that? Anyway, let's hurry up and get ourselves out of here before they recover and corner us again."

"Finally, sweet freedom from that stupid torture chamber where Jak and I almost became the main ingredients for their Dark Eco soup!" Daxter exclaimed overdramatically as he lifted his arms to the air and breathed in the deep scent of the slightly smoggy Haven City air while Jak followed Sig down a set of stone steps and in some general direction. "Oh, I don't want a run-in with that stuff for the rest of my life. I've had enough of it to last me two lifetimes."

"Are we really in the clear now, Sig?" Jak asked as he stole a glance behind him to see if anybody other than Jinx was trying to follow them, although it was unnecessary since said man was already taking care of their tail. "I don't think that we can outrun them on foot like this."

"Don't worry about that, Jak," the buff man comforted him as he led them down a corner where civilians started to become greater in number and regular buildings began to become more plentiful. "I got a Zoomer parked near here as our getaway car. Those boneheads don't even know we have one ready for this."

After a few more seconds of running through the crowd and dodging people that just refused to move from the speeding people, the man finally led them to a rather large Zoomer that was parked next to a few others, thus allowing it to blend in and appear rather conspicuous. He quickly took a set of keys from his pocket, jumped into the middle vehicle, which happened to be the largest and could easily hold at least three people, and turned on the engine.

"Alright, hurry up and get on in the back," he instructed the blond teen, who easily followed it as he opened the back compartment of the Zoomer and boarded it with Jinx following closely behind them. "Now sit still unless you want to suffer from a bumpy and painful ride here."

And with that warning leaving his lips, Sig brought the vehicle off from the ground and allowed the hovering system to adjust to the sudden change for a couple of seconds. After that small rest period, he threw the gears to full throttle and forced the Zoomer to move at top speed in less than a couple of seconds. With a few careful maneuvers, they were soon down a couple of blocks and out of the immediate sight of the palace, thus putting them officially out of harm's way and back on safe ground, or air in this case.

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Alright, so I hope that you all enjoyed this new chapter. Occasionally, I'll send out some tidbits about the story as I was coming up with the storyline.

As most of you might already know, I come up with the story as I type. I don't think ahead or anything like that, I just write down what comes from the top of my head and make it work. With that said, some of the final ideas you see here were not originally what I had in mind.

For example, in chapter 4, I did not initially plan on having Jak being knocked out, but I did see Dax doing something to save him in the next chapter, which then forced me to have Jak take a hard hit to the head.

And just as some small details for this story, I imagined Sig's gun, which is an automatic rifle, as a bigger and black version of the 5.56 mm colt automatic rifle. Jinx's single shot rifle looks like a storm trooper blaster rifle, just as small and compact as the weapon itself. Jak's gun, which Sig tossed him earlier, is a semi-automatic gun much like the compact 9mm semi-auto gun without the red dot laser sight on it. Those are just basic visuals as to the kinds of guns I see the characters carrying.

And that's just one of the many things that have changed from the initial story. I will tell you of more changes during the making of this story, but that'll have to wait until the next update. Until then, please leave a review and see you later!


	23. With Easy Questions come Hard Answers

Hello everybody. Yes, I am posting a new chapter after the other one just a couple of days ago. I just happened to be on a writing high and couldn't stop writing this down. Hope that you will all like this chapter, despite me just coming up with this on the fly and typing it all up in just a little over four hours. No easy feat to make a little over six pages for one chapter in four hours. Oh well, it just makes me happier and you a whole bunch more happy.

And just as a little thought, I am kind of thinking of separating these events into three separate stories. However, I'm not sure if that would be good or if it would just make things more confusing. IF you could comment on this a bit when you review and say whether or not you'd find it confusing, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Anyway, hope you like this new chapter. Don't forget to leave a review when you're done!

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Chapter 23: With Easy Questions come Hard Answers**

"Alright, we should be safe from those Krimson punks for the time being," Jinx stated as he stood up onto his feet once he felt the Zoomer start to slow down to a more suitable speed for travelling. He then walked towards the back of the cargo section of the vehicle and looked out a window that was situated on the door and gave a rather good view of the outside. "I don't see any of the baron's men breathing down our backs. They must've given up once they got their sight back and couldn't figure out where it was we ran off to. Thing's should finally be able to cool down and be easier for us now."

"I figured as much on that," Sig replied, not once leaving his eyes on the road as seen through a peep hole that connected the cargo section and the driver's section of the Zoomer. He then stopped a moment later to let a couple of other Zoomers in front of him to pass him by first before making his move. "I'm gonna contact headquarters and tell them what we've been up to. No doubt they already discovered us gone and will be wanting an explanation as to what we've been doing all this time. Boy, this might end up being a long and awkward conversation. This is definitely one of those times where I wished that I was in Ashelin's position."

"You and me both Sig," the blond man said as he tore his eyes away from the window and directed them momentarily at the peep hole. "She's the only one out of all of us to have this kind of special treatment with Torn because of what she does outside of our work. Anyway, you go ahead and get this whole forest fire of trouble taken care of with the boss and make sure he doesn't grill us too harshly. I've got a few interesting things that I want to ask Jakkie-boy and his nice furry orange buddy here myself."

_Jakkie-boy?_ Jak thought as he raised an eyebrow at both the comment and at the thought of what he might want to be asking him and Daxter. _Apart from the fact that that's a really interesting nickname, what could he have to ask me about? If anything, _I_ should have some things that I want to ask him._

_You and me both, big guy,_ Daxter agreed with the blond teen as he hopped off from his perch on the teen's shoulder and took a seat against the wall next to him. _No harm in trying to kill two birds with one stone, though. We can just ask him questions while he's giving us his version of an interrogation. Hopefully, it's a lot more civil than how the baron and his whining commander tried out on us._

"Now I'm sure that you both probably have some questions that you want to be asking me right now," Jinx stated rather quickly, almost as if he somehow managed to read both of the teens' minds on this matter. "And if I didn't know any better, I'm guessing that most of yours are basically what I'm going to ask. If you don't mind though, let me ask you a couple of these questions first. That okay with you two?"

"I somehow don't think that we really have much of a choice on the matter if any of us want to be getting anywhere with our potential questions," the Ottsel responded with a sigh and a roll of his eyes. "Fine, go ahead and ask us your questions first. That way, we can figure out where to go from there. Just letting you know, though, that we might not be answering every single little question that comes flying out of your mouth."

"The same goes for you and your buddy there, my cheeky little animal. But I may be willing to answer some sensitive questions if you give me answers to my sensitive questions directed at you. You don't mind if we worked things out like that, do you?"

"Provided that none of your questions start to become too personal, then I guess we can do that," the animal stated after thinking it over for a few seconds and standing up onto his two padded feet. He then added rather smugly, "Of course, that don't mean that we're still going to answer every single thing you ask."

"As if I didn't already have that in mind. Just make sure you remember that the same applies to me here, too."

"How about I start us off since both of you don't seem eager to kick this off anytime soon today," Jak stated, suddenly feeling the urge to butt in since this was quickly going nowhere fast. "For starters, are you and Sig a part of a group called the Resistance?"

"Are you seriously asking us that question?" Jinx asked, slightly surprised at both the question itself and the bluntness in how it was asked. "I seriously thought that you already knew the answer to that by now. Oh well, if you just want to hear it out from my mouth, then yes; we are a part of a group called the Resistance. Need I say anything more as to what it is that we do in this group?"

"I can already take a guess that you're just a bunch of rebels fighting for those in this city who don't have a voice to speak up and out with," the blond teen stated, his speculation taking the man off-guard momentarily at how accurate of a description the teen just dished out. "You fight for what you know is right and try to stop the baron's men at every turn of the wheel of injustice he tries to make. I'll take it that our plight under his power was no exception to that creed, right?"

"Boy, that mind of yours must have been moving at a million miles a minute in order to come up with something like that as an answer," the man stated as he simply leaned back against the wall, being careful not to take a misstep when the vehicle turned, and smiled in disbelief. "That seriously does hit close to home as to what it is that we do for a living. Of course, we all live our separate lives apart from acting like the city's vigilante group, but this is what we like to do whenever we have the time and are called on."

"And what is it that you do for a living, if I may ask?" Daxter asked, letting his curiosity arise about the man's private life. "Do you make explosives and other stuff like that for a living? Cause that's what it looked like back at the palace when you were throwing around all those grenades at those punk guards."

"That's something that I would rather not talk to you about. What I conduct in my own free time is my own business. I will say, however, that I do not make grenades for a living. They're really more like a hobby of mine than anything else, to tell you the truth."

"Must be one hell of an explosive hobby," the Ottsel said with a chuckle of his breath, but it was cut short when the Zoomer suddenly made a sudden turn and forced him falling to the floor with a grunt of surprise. "Hey, watch how you're driving up there, buff guy! You have some stowaways here in the back, you know?"

"Hey, I can't help it when someone decides that they want to drive recklessly and cause a scene," Sig countered as he quickly steered the vehicle back on course and stabilized it. "The last thing we need now are more Krimson Guards coming over to inspect a scene that involves us."

"Wow, I didn't know that those crazy people actually responded to something like a Zoomer accident. They must really have a lot of time on their hands if they're so willing to go out of there way just to look into it."

"Can we all please just stay on topic for at least five minutes here?" Jak asked, desperate to continue on with his questions in an effort to get any answers that he so desperately wanted at this point. "I want to get some answers while I'm still here to get them."

"Alright, there's no need to be getting all testy on us, Jakkie-boy," Jinx teased in almost a joking manner. "We'll have plenty of time to ask each other more questions when we get back to our base of operations. Just sit tight for now until then, okay?"

"I'd rather that I ask you some things now before we reach wherever it is that you're planning on taking us," the teen countered, obviously not willing to hold back on his questions. "What with us knowing Sig for a few months already and with us just now knowing that he works for the Resistance, I think we have a right to know just what exactly is going on here. After all, Dax and I have been looking for your group ever since we first came here a few months ago."

"So you both first came here a few months ago, huh?" the blond man wondered out loud, seemingly becoming intrigued with what he just heard. "Well, I suppose that we can still swap questions for a little while longer. Besides, I am curious as to where it was that you two came from before coming here. I suppose that you wouldn't mind telling me a little bit about that would you?"

"I hardly see the harm in telling you something like that," the teen simply responded with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Before coming here to Haven City, Dax and I used to live in a small village near the ocean called Sandover. It was really just a small country village, but it was a pretty place with lots of things to do, although not as much as there is here."

"Yeah, this place has more crazy things happening to us by the minute than back at our own backwater place," Daxter stated, wanting to add his two cents to the discussion and not feel like a background ornament. "Although nothing can really compare with the feeling of home, I'd prefer this place over anywhere else, even if this place likes to have their thoughts set on capturing and killing us."

"So you say that you both came from a village called Sandover, huh?" Sig responded, finally saying something after concentrating for a long time on the road in silence. "It sure sounds like it was a pretty nice place to live in."

"Of course it was a great place to live in," the Ottsel stated, his tone resonating with pride as he started to lightly describe the place he and Jak called home. "It was the best place to go play at the beach and in the water whenever you felt like it. There was nothing to really worry about except for maybe the occasional Lurker or two."

"And don't forget about that time when we had to take care of Gol and Maia when they went crazy and decided to try and take over the world with Dark Eco," the blond teen added, shaking his head at the thought of somebody actually once trying to do something like that. "Remind me to never go studying things about Dark Eco. They really went off the deep end with that when we took them out."

"I'm sorry to put a damper on your trip down memory lane boys," Jinx suddenly cut in, his voice sounding more like it was out of annoyance than anything else. "Actually, that came out wrong. What I meant to say was that I can't stand all this talk about Sandover and the insane siblings and all that other crap."

"Hey, I suggest that you watch what you're saying pal!" Daxter exclaimed angrily, clearly taking offence at the suggesting that what was coming out of his and Jak's mouth was nothing but bull. "Everything we're saying here is nothing but the truth. After all, we are living proof of those things ever happening."

"I'd like to see it as the opposite of what you said," the blond man countered, shaking his head and choosing to take his gun into his hands idly scan it for any kind of problems. "Everything that you're spilling out to me is anything but the truth. It's impossible for you both to be living proof of those things actually happening. I have no idea as to what caused you both to think of this crap, but let me tell you this as a fellow person who just can't stand it when he sees people spewing out things that others would find insane these days."

"Hey, watch what you're saying Jinx!" Sig warned, slowing down yet again for a moment before going back to normal speed again. "There's no need for any badmouthing to be going on back there."

"Just what are you implying here Jinx?" Jak asked, his eyes cocked in confusion at what the blond man was saying. "How is it that what me and Dax here are saying is supposed to be untrue? I fail to see how that's possible."

"Oh, it's possible alright," the blond man stated, being careful at his choice of words this time around as he kept the buff man's warning in mind. "It's possible for that to be possible because what you're trying to tell us happened in a time since before this city even came into existence. The events of both the Gol and Maia incident and the calm little tranquil village of Sandover are now nothing but ancient history. They both existed no more than two hundred years ago; and that's the truth boys."

"What?" both teens exclaimed so loudly that it surprised Sig a bit and caused him to swerve around a bit before regaining control. That was clearly something that nobody in that Zoomer was expecting. "Are you freaking serious about that?"

"I'm as serious about this as I am in thinking that the Krimson Guards are nothing but a bunch of corrupt people," the blond man stated calmly, now choosing to place his rifle onto the floor after putting the safety in place. "Trust me when I say this; I never lie to others when it comes to things like this."

"But that's impossible!" the blond teen continued on with his exclamatory rant, his mind trying to wrap around what Jinx just said. "Dax and I came here to Haven City just a few months ago through a huge teleporter that we excavated from the tower of Gol and Maia's Citadel. We used it to get here and have been trying to find our friends and a way to get back home ever since."

"Hey, I don't know anything about any teleporter that might have brought you and your friends here. All I know is that you couldn't have been from where you say you came from because that all happen a couple hundred years ago. There is no more Sandover. What's left of that place now lies just outside of the city walls, in a swamp-like area where a few Metal Heads have decided to put up a stakeout point. And what's left of the ocean that hasn't dried up over the years is now a part of an irrigation system set up in the beach area."

"Y-you're not being serious with us on this, are you?" Daxter asked, starting to laugh a bit in pure disbelief at what was being dished out at him as he quickly climbed up onto Jak's shoulder in search of support, something that both teens were feeling like they needed right now. "I mean, that just can't be right. We…we came from there just a few months ago through a teleporter."

"Sorry to burst your bubble Daxter, but Jinx is telling the truth here," Sig replied, his voice sounding a bit regretful as he backed up his partner's words with his own. "The village of Sandover and the story about the Dark Eco Sage siblings happened over two centuries ago. However, that doesn't go to say that I don't believe you when you say you both came from that village. I like to know that I've known you two long enough to know that you wouldn't lie about something that you're so adamant about. The only thing about it is that it's terribly hard to actually believe that to be a fact."

"…Sandover's…gone?" Jak whispered out, his breath completely leaving his lungs as the words of both Jinx, a man he only just knew, and Sig, a man that he knew for a few months and clearly trusted, being pierced into him like daggers stabbing away at his skin. "This is…two hundred years into the future?"

"Well, if you insist on thinking like that, then yes," the blond man stated, clearly not believing the words of the teens. "I'm sorry for having to roughly crush that fantasy of yours into dust, but it's the truth. If you want proof of it, just wait until we reach the base and I'll hand you a book about the history of the land surrounding Haven City. You'll know then that your story just doesn't hold up."

"Jinx, stop rubbing salt into the wound," the buff man stated in a warning tone. "Even though you may not believe them, I, for one, do. And before you say anything, I have read some of those books chronicling the past of this planet before Haven City existed, so don't say that I don't know anything about what I'm saying here. I also remember seeing a few pictures of the clothing and fabric they used back in the day. Tell me, do they still have any of those fabrics or materials in existence today as of now?"

"As far as all of the people who actually care about this are concerned, there aren't any in existence. None of those things could have lasted this long, regardless if they were well preserved or not. But just what is it that you're implying with this?"

"Well obviously, I don't expect you to know this right off the bat since you weren't there when I first met them at the port," he said as he began to slow down a bit and act as casually as he could when he saw a Krimson Guard Zoomer pass them by. "When I first met them then, Jak was wearing some of the same clothing that was depicted in most of those history books. If those types of clothing and the material don't exist anymore, then how is it that he was wearing them then? And before you say anything else, they were nice, clean, and fresh-looking when I saw them."

"Well, I…I… I definitely don't have anything to say against that," Jinx stuttered out, clearly at a loss of words at this. "But don't you even think it weird that he's even claiming something like that?"

"Weird or not, I know that they're telling the truth here. Jak has nothing to gain here by lying about something as obvious as this, and Daxter always gets worked up whenever he's telling the truth and someone tries to tell him he's lying or wrong. The only thing we really need to be asking now is why what they are saying is true, despite the obvious two hundred year gap in between here. And I doubt that we'll be finding an answer to that anytime soon."

"Look, let's just hurry up and get this crap over with," the blond man stated, clearly getting tired with this line of thought as he moved over to the peephole and looked out towards the front of the vehicle. "I'm seriously starting to get a headache with all this crazy thinking and trying to figure stuff out."

As the two men continued to talk and bicker about the previous discussion and other random small stuff, both Jak and Daxter were lost in their thoughts at the revelation they had just discovered. Sandover, the place where they both grew up in since as far as they could remember, was gone? How was that possible?

_Do you really think they're telling the truth about this, big guy?_ Daxter asked, looking up at Jak's eyes with confusion reflecting in his eyes. _I mean, I think Jinx's trying to play us over here and drive us nuts, but Sig actually sided with him on this. I don't think that he'd be lying over something like this. That and he actually tried to defend us there._

_…I…I…_ the teen stuttered, clearly still shaken up at the words exchanged earlier and struggling to try and find a way to phrase his next sentence. _I don't know what to think. Are they really telling us that the home that we've been trying to go home to no longer exists? Did that portal that we went through somehow threw us two hundred years into the future? Since when did a teleporter have the power to do something like that?_

_Well, when you're dealing with things that were created by the Precursors, anything's possible,_ the Ottsel offered with a shrug of his shoulders, trying to act like none of this was bothering him. _Shouldn't we be worrying more about where, or when actually, Keira and old loghead might be at right now? Do you think that they might be with us in the same timeframe right now?_

_I think I'm really starting to doubt that now. I'm starting to think that we've been looking for things that don't even exist anymore this whole time. The chances of them being here in Haven City _and _in the same timeframe as us is really slim._

_Yeah, I guess you're right, big guy. After all, we were separated before we came here, so the chances of us finding them now are pretty slim. But hey, maybe we'll be able to find them appearing out of nowhere a year from now,_ Daxter added in an attempt to cheer Jak up._ You never know if that might happen._

_I suppose that could happen,_ the blond teen answered as he gave out a rather huge and audible sigh that both of the men could hear from their position. Jinx looked like he was about to say something about that, but he thought against it and continued to talk to Sig. No doubt the buff man noticed him doing that and said something under his breath to keep him from saying anything to them. _But let's be realistic here. Just what are the chances of us being that lucky in a year from now?_

_Does that really matter?_ the Ottsel asked while trying to sound as optimistic as he could. _The fact that the chance is even there is enough for us to hope that it can happen. Seriously, you should try to lighten up a bit. I know this is a real big bummer and all that to hear that our home is destroyed, but isn't it more important that we should both be worrying more about the old man and Keira?_

_…I guess you're right on that, buddy. There is nothing we can do about Sandover at this point, but we definitely can still do something about Samos and Keira, even though they might now be in the same timeframe as us. Talk to me honestly on this; how good are our chances of ever reuniting with those two?_

…_Do you really want my honest opinion?_ the animal asked, clearly hesitating before asking his question. As if to soften the blow of his answer a bit, he started to cuddle up against the back of Jak's neck, causing the teen to unconsciously relax against the warm fur softly prickling him. _Yeah, I'll admit that our chances are anything but good here. However, I see any chance that we can get out hands on here as just that, a chance. So what if we're really fighting with the worst hand of cards here? As long as we still have a few chips on our side of the board, we can still keep on playing. Isn't that right?_

_Yeah…yeah, you're right on that,_ the teen said, feeling a bit better at how Daxter managed to cheer him up, even if it was only by just a little bit. _Whatever chance we can get our hands on is better than no chance at all. I really don't know what I'd do if you weren't here with me right now. I'd probably be so lost in my thoughts right now._

_Oh, I know that you'd be lost in your thoughts right now. I'm telling you; I'm the only one who can pull you out of that pitfall you call your thoughts without any problems._

And for the duration of the Zoomer trip, the two teens continued to mentally talk to each other; Daxter continued to cheer Jak up slowly while the teen was trying to look on the bright side of things. Jinx, who stayed by the peephole for the whole time, occasionally looked back at the two and raised his eyebrow at what was going on with them. He did not know that they both knew how to talk with each other without the aid of words, so the whole scene with them just plain looking at each other was nothing short of weird to him. Sig, on the other hand, knew what was happening, but he just chose not to tell his partner about it. Instead, he just continued to talk about whatever it was he was currently talking about with the blond man until the Zoomer ride came to an end.

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Boy, I'm real tired now. It's past three for me here. Oh well, here's a few more tidbits about past chapters before I go to sleep.

Back in chapter seven and eight, I never planned on Jak and Daxter being confronted by two Krimson Guards. I had originally planned on them just going straight to the apartment complex where Sig lived and Tess worked at. It was with that thought where I figured that I could easily introduced the two to the buff man if they were confronted by hostiles, so that's how the events of those chapters came to be. And before you all say anything, yes, i do remember all of the things I think of at the time I come up with the chapters, even the parts that have never had a chance to be put down in writing. That's just the kind of mind I have on me.

Anyway, hope that you like that small tidbit about the story itself. And to answer a few questions from the reviewers, I got the idea of the grenades from Resident Evil 4. I also got the idea on using them from the game itself. I was once swamped by Ganados in a narrow hallway and just used a grenade to blast them all away. And then I ended up running out of them and they just kept coming, so I then just used a flash grenade at them and ran right past them, avoiding them altogether and saving ammo. That's how I got the idea for those grenades.

Thanks for sending me all of your reviews. Don't forget to leave a review for this one, too. I promise you all that I will read them all just as I have with the past 115 reviews. Until the next update everybody!


	24. The Hidden Resistance Base

Hello everybody. I was kind of hoping that I could have posted this chapter before Thanksgiving Day, but I ended up being slowed down a bit. Oh well, at least I got it out here now for all of you to see and read and critique.

I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and the path it takes the story on. It was a bit hard to write it because it kind of forced me to actually think ahead into the story, something that I don't usually do when I write all of my chapters with the exception of the very first chapter. I like to let it flow on its own without any plans and let it end when it wants to end. Yeah it sounds weird, but you'd be surprised at how well it turns out when you try it.

Anyway, in response to some confusion on what I said a couple chapters back about me making this story into three separate stories. I was initially thinking that I could separate the events of this story into three separate stories, almost like what they did with the first three games. It was not really talking about talking in separate characters' point of views. The idea of this being separating into three parts is still way far off to be said, but that's what I meant when I wanted your opinions on the idea. Sorry for the confusion I made there.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading. Until the next update on any of my stories everybody!

P.S., sorry if the title of this chapter sucks. It's 3:30 in the morning for me here and I'm pretty much brain dead now, yet I'm still able to type this. Weird, I know, but this doesn't involve that much thinking as coming up with a chapter does. Oh well...

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Chapter 24: The Hidden Resistance Base**

"Alright, we're here everybody," Sig stated as he stopped the Zoomer in midair and allowed it to slowly descend towards the ground before letting anybody open the doors to get out. "We're back to what I consider to be the one of the last safe places here in Haven City. The only thing that I don't find appealing here now is our commander and the fact at how angry he's probably going to be once we show our sorry asses to him. Boy, this is one place I really don't want to be at right now."

"You and me both, Sig," Jinx agreed with a shake of his head as he opened the back door, letting the outside late afternoon sunlight pour into the area with its radiant orange glow as he and the two teens exited and bathed themselves in the full glory of the fiery light. "I can only imagine how pissed he was when you told him that you were coming back after going on a self-proclaimed mission to rescue someone that he didn't even know existed in this city out of the enemy's territory. I still can't believe that you actually managed to sweet-talk me into being dragged into this mess with you."

"Well, you were the one who decided to go along with the plan, no questions asked on your part, when I first mentioned it to you," the buff man countered as he quickly exited the driver's side of the vehicle after taking the keys out of the ignition and was soon joined by the blond man jogging towards him from the back. "It's just as much your fault for even thinking of following me in the first place without even giving it a second though. Last I checked, nobody said that you had to tail me on this self-proclaimed mission when I mentioned it to you. To be honest with you Jinx, you brought this problem upon yourself."

"Uh, do you guys mind telling us just where it is that we're at right now?" Jak asked, exiting the vehicle with Daxter standing firmly on his shoulders with his cool padded feet and gloved hands and looking around at what seemed to be an alleyway that led to nowhere but a dead end. "I don't mean to be interrupting anything important or pressing between you tow, but I don't really see anything spectacular here except for brick walls, broken windows, and piles of trash in both the cans and smeared along the walls."

"Yeah, it looks more like a major dumping ground for smelly old trash and other broken old stuff than anything else," the Ottsel responded as his sensitive nose caught the strong scent of the rotting garbage and some other undistinguishable yet disgusting smells around them and scrunched his face up a bit. This was definitely one of those times where he wished he did not have his super sensitive Ottsel sense of smell. "This place stinks almost as bad as that guy living in his hut in Boggy Swamp back at home. Just what the heck are you thinking in bringing us to this disgusting garbage heap?"

"This, my friends, is the very place where some of us Resistance members come to meet and uphold our base of operations," the blond man stated, heading towards a section of wall next to a pile of overflowing trashcans while stealthily raising a suspicious eyebrow at the animal's statement about the swamp. "Don't this place look like an absolute beauty in all its glory? All this nice-smelling trash and broken windows really help bring out the hominess of this spot, don't it?" he added with strong sarcasm behind both of his new statements. "I gotta hand it to them though, this is definitely one of the last places the Krimson Guards would ever think of looking for any of us."

"…He's not really being serious when he's saying that this is where you guys actually hold all your meetings and all that other stuff, is he?" the blond teen asked, raising an eyebrow at Sig as if asking if he was simply messing around with him and Daxter. "You really don't hold your meetings and all that other hidden base stuff in this alleyway that's out in the open and close to pretty much nothing but a big heap of smelly garbage?"

"Well that's kind of a tear between yes and no Jak," Sig answered with a small all-knowing smile shot at the teen. "Although it is true that this is where one branch of our base is located at, we don't hold meetings out here in plain view for everybody to see, as is what you and Daxter are probably thinking right now. It just wouldn't make all that much sense to be huddled around in the middle of an alleyway as rundown as this and waiting for someone to desperately rat us out to the Krimson Guard, now would it? I promise you; we're not so stupid as to meet up in plain sight of our enemies, and we are a reliable bunch of people you can count on whenever you're in a pinch."

"Wait a minute; are you telling us that you actually have a few more hideouts hidden all over this place?" Daxter asked, suddenly forgetting about the disgusting setting and becoming interested in how the Resistance was able to be situated in more than one spot in the huge city. "Boy, did I sure underestimate what it is that you guys can do around here. It sounds like you all do a whole lot of hard work for such a small group of people who devote themselves on suicide missions against the Krimson Guard."

"Yeah, we are the only people crazy enough to go up against a group of that caliber," Jinx answered, now pawing at the wall as if he were in search of something. "But if you actually stop to think about it for a bit, we are the only ones who even dare to stand up against them, despite there only being a small handful of us working for this. If every one of us weren't here fighting against every single thing they did wrong against the people, then there wouldn't be a Haven City to protect. We're the only ones who stand a chance of keeping what's left of the spirit of the old Haven City alive."

"And that, unfortunately, is the cold, hard truth behind the driving force that moves us to do what it is that we do," the buff man finished off as he made sure the only way in and out of the alley was not being infiltrated or spied on while they were there. "Because there's nobody in this town who's strong or even brave enough to go up against the opposition, we take up that role ourselves and fight for the better of this city. And if possible, we'll be able to bring this city back to the former glory it once held before the baron's rule. At least, that's what I hope we can do once we're done with our work here."

"Wow, that sure sounds like some seriously deep crap you just spewed out there, buff guy," the Ottsel stated with a smirk, although he meant it in more of a sincere way instead of his usual sarcastic fashion. "I'm guessing that you've lived here all your life and prefer this place from before it turned into the crap city it is now, huh? Not that me and Jak know anything about it since this is the only version of Haven City we really know about for the past few months, all dangerous and potentially deadly to our health."

"Yeah, I was born and raised here when this still used to be a really nice place to live in. Back then, we could all play around in the streets without any fear of people wanting to come take us away or kill us. The air used to be a lot cleaner than it is today, and the sky was a lot brighter and less blotted out by smog. Oh well, change is always bound to happen sooner or later, whether it's for the better or worse."

"You sure that it was a lot cleaner then than it is now buff guy?" the animal asked in a tone that clearly said he was not buying it. Then again, who could blame him since this was the only version of the city he and Jak had seen this whole time. "It's really kind of hard for me to imagine that being so, you know?"

"Are you almost done back there, Jinx?" Sig suddenly asked, abruptly changing the topic as if he did want to talk about it anymore. "We've been waiting here for a few minutes already for you to get that door open."

"Hey, it ain't my fault that the people who made this base decided to make a very complicated security system for us to go through before we get to go in," Jinx stated, his voice clear with irritation at being asked the question and probably at how long the process was taking. "This stupid thing isn't exactly a walk in the park, you know? It takes a bit of time to work through it."

"Oh, move aside mister and let me have a go at it," Sig stated as he walked up to the seemingly uninteresting wall and pushed the blond man away from it. "Honestly, it really isn't that hard if you'd only practice the code like you're supposed to. Why don't you just take my place and make sure nobody ends up seeing us and rats us out to the Krimson Guard. That's the last thing that we need now."

"Hey, I was just about to get it!" the blond man cried out, now angry that he was being pushed away from the wall that he was working on for a while now. "All I needed was a bit more time. Oh fine, I get the picture," he added angrily as he flipped the finger behind the big man's back. "I'll go and keep watch while you stress your brain out on this stupid security puzzle of a wall!"

Before he could even make a move to take over the spot Sig had left, a sudden light click was heard in the rather quiet alleyway, and some of the bricks started to rearrange themselves, revealing a door that was once covered by nothing but bricks. Sig then turned around and had a triumphant smile plastered on his face.

"And that's how you open up a secret door covered by a pile of bricks against a building, my good friend," the buff man stated proudly as he looked directly at Jinx when he said that, wanting to rub in the fact that he did it a lot faster than the other could. "Hope you kept in mind how I opened this door because I won't always be here to help you get inside. You're going to have to open it yourself one of these days."

"Hey, don't start acting all smug and stuff with me just because you managed to open a simple secret door," the blond man countered rather weakly, clearly feeling sour at how the man opened the door in a matter of seconds and how he took a whole lot longer. "You only opened quicker because I was already tinkering around with it for a few minutes before you took over. This doesn't count as you opening it quicker than me."

"Yeah, you just keep that stubborn mind of yours on that track of thought while the rest of us haul our asses inside before we get ourselves killed out here. Come on Jak and Daxter; let's hurry up and get inside and away from this smelly trash," he said to the two teens that were long forgotten when he and the blond man started to get involved with opening the secret door. He also started to ignore Jinx, who was still steaming away about the thing with door and not really paying attention to what was happening around him.

"Yes, we're finally able to get out of this smelly trash heap!" Daxter exclaimed, jumping off of Jak's shoulder and running into the revealed door after Sig, not wanting his sensitive nose to catch the scent of rotting garbage a second longer. He also seemed to not notice how dark the exposed hallway behind the door was for anybody to really walk into it comfortably. "Here comes fresh air and the end of being killed for today!"

"…Is the air in there really that much fresher than it is out here?" Jak asked the buff man, who stopped only a foot or so inside the open doorway after seeing a furry orange blur running right past his big brown sneakers not fitting for a mission, another sight that showed he came here in a real rush without preparing much for a face-off. "And is there enough light for us to see where we're going in there? Not that I'm worried about Daxter or anything like that because I know he can see well in the dark."

"Eh, it's a little bit better than all this trash out here," Sig stated as he allowed the blond teen to walk in first before continuing down the hallway himself. "We could do with a couple of air fresheners every now and then, but it's at least a place where we can take a breath of fresh air and relax a bit without worrying too much. And yes, there's more than enough light for us to have an adequate working space in there."

"…Hey, don't leave me out here all alone you guys!" Jinx angrily shouted as he finally snapped out of his fuming thoughts and noticed everybody entering the exposed doorway. He then began to run through the door after everybody else as the bricks started to bring themselves back to their original position and cover up the door. "You guys really are a considerate bunch of people, you know that? If it weren't for my grenades and my experimental flash grenade, none of you would be standing here right now."

"Oh, save your whining for when you're up against our boss trying to fish around for an excuse to get out of the trouble we're already in," the buff man stated as the bricks completely settled themselves over the door, bathing the hallway in darkness momentarily before a light on the top of the hallway lit itself up, illuminating the pretty straightforward path constructed of regular metal before them. It was slightly dirty due to the lack of cleaning, but it looked kept up enough for it to be habitable for a simple rebel group. "I have a crazy feeling that we'll need all the whining power in the world to survive this today, and that's something that's usually right up your alleyway second only to your expertise with explosives."

"Sounds like you guys work under a really strict boss who doesn't like things running off of his organized chain of command," the blond teen observed as he began looking along the floor of the dimly lit hallway for the familiar sight of bright yellow and flaming orange fur. "Then again, I guess that's how things should work around here if you want to fight back against the Krimson Guard and don't want to be killed in the process. Anyway, did you happen to see where it was that Dax decided to run off to in here? I don't want him getting lost in here and start freaking out on me when I find him."

"Don't worry buddy; I'm closer than you think," the sound of Daxter's voice answered, sounding to be directly next to the teen's feet. When he looked down to see if he was indeed there, he already felt the familiar light paws climbing up his leg and onto his shoulder. "I'm not that same crying ten-year-old boy that used to get scared of every little thing anymore, you know? I just tend to be a bit more fidgety, that's all. Besides, I think I know better than to go exploring inside some place that I have no idea of unless I'm trying to exterminate bugs at some bug-infested building.

"Speaking of which," the Ottsel continued on, suddenly changing the subject and directing it to Sig before Jak had a chance to say anything else on their current topic, "are there any insanely big and crazy bugs in here that we should know of before we continue walking down this wondrously gloomy and dirty hallway? If there are, which I really hope there aren't here, then I think that you're going to have to go through old man Osmo if you want us to taking care of any infestation."

"Trust me; I'm not going to be giving you guys any business in here," Sig stated, catching the joke easily. "Besides, do you really think that we wouldn't have already taken care some of the killer bugs in here before setting this place up as one of our base of operations? The last thing we need is a bug attack while we're discussing battle tactics or are forced to spend the night in here in case the Krimson Guards are on heavy patrol. That and we don't have to go through Osmo to ask for your help for any kind of bug problem or whatnot. After all, I didn't recommend him to you for a job just because I knew him."

"You recommended him to us because he's also a part of the Resistance, right?" Jak asked, kind of half-guessing the answer after hearing the way Sig was phrasing his sentence. The man simply continued on down the path he was taking them down, totally unfazed at the teen's quick mindset in figuring things out after knowing him for a few months already. "It's either that or he felt that he owed you guys a big favor and decided to give his services to you guys for free for whatever and whenever."

"It's kind of more the latter of the two," the big man clarified as he continued to lead everybody down the right path at places where the hallway split in two. "You see, old man Osmo and his son were in hot water with this guy who once worked with the Krimson Guard. Thankfully, he doesn't work with them anymore after being dishonorably discharged in regards to the incident he caused backfiring against him. And you're looking at the very guy who helped made it so for the poor jerk."

"Whoa, what happened then that made the Krimson Guard actually fire one of their own men like that?" the animal asked, his attention fully caught at hearing how the enemy actually chose to kick one of their own out of their ranks and raising to amusement. "I never thought that they would actually want to run one of their own out of their ranks. The guy must have messed up real bad if they wanted him out that badly."

"Well, let's just say that they tried to cheat the wrong guy out of his own business in an attempt for fast money. Yes, they tried to cheat Osmo out of his exterminating company by filing some bogus claim on the overuse of pesticide and sickening countless Krimson Guard members that happened to stay there after. Unfortunately for them, I also happened to stay there the same time as they did, so I posed as a long-time family friend of his and spoke on his behalf. Note that I had just started the Resistance, so there was no worry of them having any kind of previous beef or anything like that with me. And with their help, we managed to snag a little bonus to help him out even more.

"Believe it or not, the pest spray that Osmo's employees used that day was purchased by a company that manufactured and sold their own specialized pesticide mixtures," he continued on, leading them down a corner and towards an open area that looked to be a lounge area of sorts. "Needless to say, this company was bought and controlled by some of the people working in the Krimson Guard. And one of the people who owned said company was the very guard who went and slapped the bogus complaint on the exterminating company on behalf of his other men in order to help them all gain some quick dishonest cash. With the Resistance backing Osmo up, that guard was sorely beaten in his sham of a claim and was publicly kicked off of the force right there after the end of the proceedings as punishment. In other words, they did not want to have a person who tried to pull off something illegal and got himself caught and practically shame the entire force. And to erase the last remnants of their shame, they dismantled the company building and converted it into what's now an abandoned warehouse. It's a total waste of good space for something useful, if you ask me."

"And I'm guessing that's where the want for him owing you guys comes into play, huh?" Jak concluded as they finally reached the round lounge area. On a couple parts of the wall were a couple of simple wooden doors that led to other unknown parts of the hideout. And in the center were a couple of chairs, a sofa that Jak and Daxter immediately recognized as the one that was once in Sig's old apartment, and a coffee table with a lamp in the middle along with a few pens and pencils on it. There were also other lights on small desks by the doors and a single light on the center of the ceiling, but they were somewhat weak in power and did little to help further illuminate the dim room.

"That's pretty much it, Jak. That's the entire story of him and us in a nutshell. Anyway, I'm sure you guys must be tired after escaping the palace and having to listen and learn a few things along the way here. Why don't you guys take some time to rest here a bit while Jinx and I take care a few things with the boss? You can go ahead and fall asleep on the couch if you want, although I suggest you don't since the people who're in here don't know who you guys are and might start kicking you out into the streets again."

"Oh trust me, you're going to have to catch me dead with a bullet in the back of my head first before you start seeing me sleeping my butt away in here, thank you very much!" the Ottsel exclaimed as he immediately jumped off of the blond teen's shoulder again and laid himself on the arm of the sofa, followed closely by Jak sitting right next to him. "This place seems a bit too gloomy to really get a good night's sleep. That and there's a certain smell in here that's kind of bugging the heck out of me."

"Eh, you learn to get used to the feeling after a while," Sig stated with a small shrug of his shoulders as he walked up to one of the doors and knocked a couple times with his large knuckles. "It's really not as bad as you think of it now once you've spend some quality time in here with everybody else. In terms of the smell though, I think that's something that only you can tell, what with your nose being sensitive and all that."

"Come in," a slightly crackly and tough voice called out, slightly muffled because of the door that was still shut. However, the sound of a chair rubbing against the floor was clearly heard as if there was no door in between them. "I've been wanting to talk to the two of you when I first figured out you were acting outside of my orders. You best be ready to explain yourselves when you come in, or I'll kick you out without a moment's notice."

"Oh, that's definitely a sign of things to come for us," the blond man groaned out with a smack to his forehead as the buff man opened the door slowly, almost as if he was silently agreeing with his partner-in-crime. "I think I'd rather take the control of the Metal Heads over the wrath of our commander here. Trust me guys, he's not a force to reckon with when he's angry," he added silently towards the two teens.

"We'll be out as soon as we can, you two," Sig stated as he entered the room, which was soon discovered to be a small office, and was quickly followed in by Jinx with him. "We'll be out of this as soon as we can, provided that we can get out of this alive that is," he added with a slightly nervous smile before the blond man closed the door behind him.

"Well, that sure sounds like they're going to have a real interesting conversation in there with their boss," Daxter said as he lazily lifted his head towards the closed door before resting it on his crossed arms. "I really don't envy being them right about now. But how can a crackly voice be so threatening? One would think they'd be made fun of if they talked."

"Everybody has different views of others Dax," Jak stated as he took a seat on the couch next to the arm the Ottsel was casually lying on and lightly stroking his back. "It's kind of like with you and me when we first met back home. You know that I could have just as easily left you to fend for yourself that day you were being bullied by bullies."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that ever since you brought it up some time ago. Why did you end up helping me out there? I wasn't exactly a shining example of a good-looking kid that you'd wanted to be friends with."

"Well, I just happened to see something in you then. If you want my honest answer, then I'll tell you what I saw in you. I saw in you a guy that refused to be taken down no matter how hard things looked but couldn't fight back because he simply couldn't. You had a stubborn side to you, if your face while they were torturing you wasn't any indication of it.

"Even if you were just a regular timid guy who was always at the mercy of those stupid bullies, I still would've gone and helped you out then," the teen continued on, now leaning back into the couch and relaxing fully while still petting his friend's back. "I'm sure you know that I'm not the kind of guy to just leave someone in need behind when I can do something about it. I helped you out then because you needed help. That and I felt some kind of connection with you when I saw you being picked on."

"I'm guessing that connection was that we both had a strong fighting spirit, huh?" the Ottsel asked, pretty much purring it out as he was clearly enjoying the back rub he was still getting. "The only real difference was that mine's more in actual inner spirit while yours is mainly projected on the outside. Still, they're pretty much the same."

"And that's why I think we became the best of friends since then, buddy. I tell you, only you can make me feel as happy as I usually do. Of course, you're also the only one who can give me a good headache and force me to bear with it since you know I can never kill you no matter how much I want to sometimes. It's sometimes so hard to tell how I manage to put up with you while others tend to tone you out after a couple of minutes. Maybe I should start doing that so I can save myself more future headaches from you."

"Oh, now you're just teasing me there, big guy," Daxter stated, feeling the calm stroking on his back stop and the warmth of the hand slowly moving away, his back quickly cooling down at the absence of the excess body heat. "There's no way that you ever thought of wanting to kill me all these years."

"Oh, you'd be surprised at what sometimes crosses my mind," Jak responded with a small playful smile, his voice clearly giving the fact away that he was simply joking around as he always did with Daxter. "I just never go along with the dark side of my thoughts because I don't like doing things for no good reason."

"Nice to know that the only thing keeping me alive from you is your want to only do things that make sense and have a good reason behind it," the animal responded with a small sigh, adding on to their friendly word fight that others might not have thought so because of the words they were using.

And this word war with each other continued on for the rest of the time. Amazingly, none of the other people that were a part of the Resistance group were seen walking around or passing by the area the teens were in. This meant that they did not have to do any explaining to members of the Resistance who never saw them before and wanted to try and kick them out. All they had to do and could do now was wait and wait until Sig and the others in the closed office came out of the room from the verbal beating they were probably getting right now.


	25. Meeting The Resistance Commander

Hello my fellow readers! Sorry for not updating my story for an insane amount of time here. Being that I'm in college now, my quarter for classes was ending, and with that meant having to study like crazy for all of my finals. Then I had to choose my classes for next quarter and had to figure out which books to by for the new classes. And if that were not enough, I then had to go and do some Christmas shopping for my family. Overall, it was practically a crazy month this December for me.

Anyway, I really do hope that this chapter would more than make up for the long wait most of you had to endure. I made sure that this was one of the best chapters I've made in this whole story. It's really starting to take off now and the main plot of the story is only now just beginning to unravel itself. Yes, it took twenty-five chapters to start the plot moving, but it sure was one great adventure just to build up to this moment, wasn't it?

Also, as my way of giving all of you faithful readers a Christmas gift, I decided to upload a new story on fanfiction. It's basically a story that's based on the video game Breath of Fire III entitled "Memories of a Dragon". I'll give more details about what it is on the story itself, but I hope that you'll all take the time to read and review it after you've finished this chapter and reviewed it as well.

Hope you all enjoy this new chapter. Don't forget to leave a review and have a wonderful Christmas! Later!

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Chapter 25: Meeting With The Resistance Commander**

"How long do you think they intend on making us wait out here in this nice dark room?" Daxter asked as he allowed a loud and over exaggerated sigh escape his lips while lying flat on his stomach on the arm of the sofa chair. "All we're doing here is sitting around waiting for them to finish whatever it is they're doing in there and wondering when it is that they'll want to talk to us about whatever it is they want to talk to us about. And on top of that, I'm starting to get a bit hungry here from all of this stupid waiting. Do you think they'd mind if I went exploring in search for something to eat here?"

"We haven't really been here all that long, Dax," Jak, who was still sitting calmly right next to the arm rest, responded with a small shake of his head at his buddy's impatient behavior. "We've only been in here for no more than ten minutes. I'm sure you know better than any of us here how long it sometimes takes to get chewed out. And yes, I think that the people here will mind if you decide to go wandering around in here without being accompanied by somebody the people here know. They'd probably go and pound you upside the head before you even get a chance to explain anything to them."

"Yeah, you're probably right on that," the Ottsel conceded easily, a move that the blond teen rarely ever seen done in all the years he has known him. "The last thing I need now is to be knocked unconscious just because I wanted to play nosey and walk around in a place where I'm theoretically not supposed to be at right now. That really wouldn't be the smartest of moves for me to make now, would it big guy?"

"You know, it's kind of hard to tell right now whether you're being sincere with me or just plain sarcastic," the teen replied as he stretched his arms out and worked a couple kinks out of his shoulders. "Then again, if I can't tell how you're phrasing it, then it's usually the latter of the two that you're acting as."

"Hey, even I have my limitations on what it is that I know I can and can't do at certain times. This just happens to be one of those great moments for me."

"I'll bet it is. If only you would try to exercise that kind of decision making during some of our jobs or when we're in a bit of trouble, then that would save us a whole lot of misery in the long run. Unfortunately for me, that's not how you like to normally run your life. Fortunately for me, I'm one of the few people who have learned to live with it."

"That's a nice truth for you, isn't it big guy? I'm telling you, nobody in the entirety of this wondrously dangerous city can really understand the complex designs of my mind. They all just don't get how my style of thinking works."

"It's more like they can't understand the simplistically stupid way you form your ideas and theatrics along with the way you think things out."

"Hey, I resent that; Jak!" Daxter exclaimed as he got up from his stomach and onto his feet, the entirety of his tail moving side to side a bit to show that he was only faking his slightly flared-up attitude. "The things that I manage to come up with in my smart Ottsel head are anything but simple and stupid. They're only smart and understandable when heard by the right set of ears, which are mainly yours."

"Oh, trust me when I say this to you Dax; there are times where I sometimes can only manage to understand half of the things that come from your brain and out of your mouth," Jak responded calmly with a small shrug of his shoulders as if he were unsure of something. "That's a whole lot better than what most can muster when they listen to you. I figured that you'd be happy when I said 'they' instead of 'us', which would have included me as well. Do you want me to change the wording around so that it'd include me? You know I could easily do that and bring this conversation to a whole different level."

"Oh, put the butt of your blaster to where that creative mouth of yours is," the animal spat out as he crossed his arms and gave off a childish pout. "Be careful not to shoot your brains out while trying to talk smack about me. Knowing you, your finger's always going to be glued to the trigger even if it's being pointed at you. In other words, you sometimes go a bit overboard and end up biting yourself in the butt."

"...This is a good example as to one of those moments where I can just barely understand even half of what it is that you're trying to say to me," the blond stated as he gave a weird look at his buddy. "It's almost as if you just randomly came up with some crazy explanation that you think has any chance of making sense while trying to maintain your cool attitude, which I'm sure is what you just did if I have you pegged down correctly."

"Since when have you ever missed hitting the bulls-eye on me? Just because you've always been able to tell what it is that I do every time, it doesn't mean that I'm going to go about admitting it to you anytime soon."

"As if I even ever expected you to do that in the first place. I know what it is that I know, and I know most, if not all, of your telltale habits. You can thank that to me hanging out with you nonstop for the past many years since we first met."

"Oh, how I wish now that I could go back in time and make you not hang out with me so much. Maybe then you won't be able to read every single move I make."

Before the two teens could continue on with their senseless conversation, they both heard and saw the wooden door that both Sig and Jinx walked through earlier quickly open. The blond man quickly walked out in a fashion that one would have thought he was chased out while trying to not make eye contact with whatever it was that was behind him. On his face was a look that closely resembled that of both anger and frustration. Following close by, yet stopping right at the doorway with his back facing the outside, was the buff man who was still talking to whoever it was that he was talking to inside.

"Be happy that you have both good weapons skills and survival instincts," the man inside the room was heard saying in the same raspy voice the teens heard when the two men were first summoned in laced with both annoyance and anger. "I probably wouldn't have even considered the thought of letting you stay with the Resistance after performing such a risky mission that could potentially be categorized as suicide without my prior consent of even discussing it with me beforehand. You better not let me catch you doing that again. I won't hesitate to kick you out of this in a heartbeat."

"Yes sir, I'll keep that in mind!" Sig responded in a clear voice and a quick respectful nod of his head before backing out of the room completely and quickly closing the door with a soft click from the knob.

"Boy, sounds like somebody's got the biggest grilling of their life," Daxter teased in a sing-song voice with a grin that a small child would wear when they hear one of their friends being punished plastered on his face. "Would I hate being in your shoes right now."

"Oh, trust me when I say that the person who you really don't want to be right now is Jinx," the man stated as he turned around and fixed his gaze at the two teens on the couch before quickly breaking contact and moving down the hallway the blond man quickly walked down. "He's getting the worst out of the two of us, an indefinite suspension from the Resistance and anything in regards to it for the next month. I better catch up with him before he decides to try blowing up parts of the base as his plan for revenge. And before I forget, the commander said that he wants to talk to you right now. Best to not keep him waiting if you don't want to be chewed out by him."

And without saying anything else, Sig had turned the corner in the hallway in an attempt to catch up with Jinx before, as the buff man had so claimed earlier, went and blew up parts of the base out of anger and alerting their enemies to where they were hiding.

"...Well, that was a really interesting scene that just walked right by us," the Ottsel simply stated with a slightly dumbfounded look on his face while he and Jak continued to stare down the now empty hallway. "I can take a guess that the buff guy is the humbler of the two when it comes to being chewed out by their boss while the explosive guy likes to try and vent his anger out on someone or something."

"I kind of already had that figured out before they even went inside that room," the blond replied with a small sigh as he rubbed the back of his head a bit before turning his body around and faced the closed door the two men had exited out of earlier. "Sig seemed to be the one who's able to keep good control over things back when he was trying to help us escape the palace while Jinx seemed best at applying pressure on the Krimson Guards with his gun and grenades. A good combination for when they need to be a team, but probably not the best of situations when paired together as simply individuals."

"And you're telling me that I don't make the most sense at times? That itself doesn't even make any kind of sense to me."

"Alright, can we just stop talking about that Dax? I think we have some more important things to do than to continue on with this rather pointless conversation."

"If you mean trying to avoid being chewed out by a man whom we don't know and who probably doesn't even have the right to chew us out in the first place since we don't even work for him or anything like that, then yes, we do have something important to take care of."

"What I to know though is why he would even want to want to talk to us, people who he doesn't even know and whose only connection to us is through one of his own men," Jak wondered as he walked towards the door and placed his hand on the knob. "If it's really just to talk to us about putting his men in danger that he didn't authorize, then he's only just wasting his time. He probably has something he really wants to talk to us other than that."

"Well, there's only one way to find out from here big guy," the Ottsel stated as he heard the tumblers on the inside of the door turning as he saw the twisting of the blond teen's wrist. "Let's go on in and see what he wants with us."

In another moment, the teen opened the door and immediately noticed a slightly brighter source of light shining against his eyes from inside the now open room. He had to shield his vision for a little bit from the strength of the new light; Daxter was close to unfazed by it because of his Ottsel eyes having the ability to quickly adjust to sudden changes of light. The most he did was flinch a bit at the suddenness and shifted his head behind Jak's as a sort of animalistic defensive maneuver that he unwillingly gained when he transformed.

"I was wondering when the two of you might decide to come in here," a familiarly raspy voice called out to them from somewhere within the room. "It doesn't take more than a minute to get into this office from out there in the lounge area. I'm sure Sig told you that I wanted to see you two when he left just now, so why the holdup?"

Once the two finally managed to get their eyes to adjust to the brighter light supplied by the room, they saw a man sitting behind a desk that was situated all the way to the back of the room that was now confirmed to be an office setting. The desk itself was adorned with many pieces of paper along with a few folders stuffed with even more papers. The man himself was busy with a pen in his hand and scribbling something on another paper while shoving something into his desk drawer. And that was all they could see before he looked up and eyed them.

"I'm waiting for a reasonable answer from either of you two," the flaming red haired man man inquired with a strong hint of his impatient attitude in his aggressive tone. "I don't know if you already know this, but I'm not the kind of guy who likes to be kept waiting when he calls for someone. I don't necessarily have all the time in the world to be wasting when I can better spend it on finishing my reports here."

"Hey, I don't think you have the right here to be ordering us around here mister I-think-I'm-better-than-everybody-else," Daxter countered defiantly as he pointed his thin Ottsel finger at the man, who had strange tattoo-like markings on the sides of his face. They almost looked like what Errol had on his face. "Why don't you watch what you're saying to us? We're not even a part of your group here, so you don't have any power over us to be telling us what it is that we should be doing."

"Unfortunately for you my fine furry friend, I believe that I have more than enough power and within my right to be asking you to do something as simple as coming into my office on time," the man re-fired at the animal without any hesitation. He was apparently used to being talked back to and knew how to answer quickly without leaving any opening for the other to say anything. "And I would like to think that I have some authority over you since you both managed to drag two of my men into rescuing you without having them first confirm with me what they were planning to do."

"And what about the other woman who saved us?" the animal argued again in a feeble attempt to try and gain some ground against someone who clearly had more experience in this than him. "I'm sure that she was a member of your group since she happened to know who Sig was and where it was he was going to be coming from."

"Ashelin happens to have the right to disobey my commands or act on her own accord in accordance to what it is that she has to do in her regular life," the man practically deadpanned without once changing the tone in his voice. "In other words, she acted within her boundaries without needlessly endangering her fellow allies because it happened to be within reach of her normal life, a life that has to be played out exactly lest she wants to be discovered by some undesirable parties."

"What is it that you wanted to talk to us about sir?" Jak quickly butted in, feeling that them being in here and being grilled by someone that they do not even know was far from being tedious and frustrating. It was just starting to become plain stupid, and he could tell that this person was not one for needlessly wasting time. "I sure you didn't call us in here so that you could waste both ours and your time talking about things that have already been done and can't be changed. You seem more like the kind of guy that would worry more about what might happen soon rather than what has already happened."

"Ha, you must have some balls if you're actually going to be talking to me like that," the man stated with a hint of amusement in his tone more than appall at being addressed so suddenly. "I guess Sig was right about you in him saying that you have great confidence in everything that you say and do. Your great courage and your pet's great zeal to keep up his vocal attack are things you hardly see around here anymore.

"You're right; I called the two of you in here for more than just trying to grill you two for putting my two best men into senseless trouble," he continued on as he got up from his chair but stayed behind his desk as he ignored Daxter's scowl from being once again referred to as a pet. "My name is Torn. I'm the commander of our merry little band of men that help try to keep this city as safe as it can be from the tyranny of the Krimson Guard. In case you never heard of us, we're the infamous group of rebels who call themselves The Resistance."

"We've already heard of you a few times already," the blond teen stated without a shred of hesitation when standing in front of a person with high standing. "And I think it's safe to say that I knew Sig a lot longer than I have your group. Is he seriously a member of your group? I had a feeling that his work always involved something dangerous, but I didn't think that he lived this dangerously."

"I don't think it matters how dangerous his job is for him. If you think about it carefully, everybody in this town has been dragged into dangerous stuff regardless if they are soldiers or regular citizens. As long as the Krimson Guard continue to stroll the streets with nothing in their minds except to incite harm upon the people, nobody's ever going to get their shot at any peace and quiet. That's why I formed this group and recruited people for this cause; we want to make sure everybody is as safe as they could be against both the unjustness of the guards and the deadly Metal Heads."

"Are these Metal Head guys really all that dangerous?" Daxter asked, clearly perplexed at what these creatures were after hearing them being mentions so many times already. "So far, both me and Jak have only heard about them and never really had the chance to lay our eyes on even one of them. It almost sounds like you're all just making it up so you can try and scare us away from doing anything crazy. Are they really all that dangerous as everybody's been saying they are? And just where is it that they're hiding out at?"

"Have the two of you been living under a rock all this time? Even all of these simple city guys know what the Metal Heads look like. They're all a bunch of murderous monsters with bodies made of metal that want to try and take over every city on this planet and take control of it. You could say that they're definitely a force to be reckoned with since they already managed to either take control or wipe out almost every major town and city outside of these city walls. This is probably one of the last places where people can find at least some source of peace and tranquility from all this crazy fights."

"They've taken control of most of the places outside of these city walls?" Jak asked with eyes wide with surprise while Daxter simply stood still on his shoulder and did not say a word. "How can a single group of monsters manage to take over most of our civilization on their own? They have to be a well-organized group and have a leader intelligent enough to come up with plans effective enough for them to take down even a small town."

"Unfortunately for all of us, the way you described them is exactly how they are. The Metal Heads are a bunch of intelligent beings who know how to think like us and attack in ways that are more complex than any other simple-minded creatures on this planet. They attack in drones and come in all different shapes and sizes. That's what makes it hard to take them down when they come up to our walls and try to break it down. I can at least say that the Krimson Guard always stay attentive to whenever they attack us and try to drive them back. It's probably the only helpful thing they really do around here."

"The Metal Heads have been trying to break through the wall that's snaking all around the edge of the city?" the blond teen asked, his eyes shining with both amazement and confusion at the statement. "If they've been doing that, then wouldn't we have heard something about it if they've been doing that? Dax and I have only been here for a few months and we've never heard of anything like that happening."

"Those ugly gray walls were really meant to keep all of us safe from those Metal Heads outside?" Daxter added, completely missing the main question in the commander's last few words. "I always thought that they were meant to just keep us trapped in here so that none of us could see what was outside whenever we wanted to."

"I must admit with great relief that they haven't really been doing much in terms of trying to break through into our city as of late," Torn admitted as he shuffled through the many papers on his desk a bit as if he were trying to look for something. "They do also look more like the walls of a prison instead of ones that are meant to protect us. Despite its rather drab look, it is the only source of protection between us and the Metal Heads as of now. We can't always have things looking nice while serving a protective purpose. It was put in place from the time when the previous ruler of Haven City was still here ruling the place with an even hand. It's hard to believe that we made this much of a bad change in just a little over three years."

"So those walls have been here since the time when the last person was taking control of this city? Was he as bad as the Baron Praxis who tried to subjugate both me and Dax in his sick experiments with Dark Eco?"

"Oh, he was quite the opposite when it came to keeping control over the town," the commander stated as he had a slight reminiscent glint in his eyes. "Every day, he always made it a point to make himself both known and seen by everybody in town. He would try to help out anybody he saw in trouble provided that it was within his power both physically and by law. He was a man whom you could count on to make sure that every one of your friends and neighbors were as safe as they could be. But now he's gone and has been replaced by a power-hungry man whose only definition of protection is trying to keep the Metal Heads from breaching the outer walls and getting in here.

"Anyway, I'm afraid that we're starting to get way off topic here," he said as he cleared his throat and picked up a piece of paper that he found after rummaging through the surface of his desk. "The real reason why I asked you two to come in here is because I have something important that I wanted to talk to you about. In fact, if I take into account what Sig told me while I was giving him an earful a few minutes ago, I'm sure that this might be something you two would be interested in."

"And what is it do you have that would be of great interest to the two of us?" Daxter asked as he wrapped himself around Jak's neck while keeping his eyes on the commander who was still behind the desk with the paper still in his hands. "You don't even know anything about us beyond what the big buff guy told you. Do you really think that you have enough info on us to know just what it is that we would possibly want to do after this?"

"I would like to feel that I do have enough information to base my thoughts on. You're talking to a person who prides himself in gaining information and being able to process them even quicker than a flash of lightning with little to no mistakes."

"Would you mind if we just hurried up and got to the point commander?" Jak urged the man, starting to feel a bit impatient at being holed up in this office for what was starting to look like nothing more than a small scale interrogation. "With all due respect, I'm starting to feel like you're trying to find ways to keep us from leaving here. It's almost as though you're trying to lure us into a trap so that we may serve as your prisoners for some kind of trade-off gain against the Krimson Guard."

"I'm sorry that you happen to feel that way. However, I'm afraid that this is merely a formality to keep you in here while questioning you. To be quite honest, all of these tedious questions really help me to judge what kind of characters you and your friend Daxter are. I do need to make sure that you're all at least somewhat on our side and won't go telling the opposition where it is that we conduct our business after all. That is definitely the last thing that I would want happening to us at such a critical moment when the enemy is more preoccupied with the Metal Heads and giving us a slight advantage against them.

"Anyway, I would like for both of you to look over this sheet of paper and discuss whether or not you would like to sign off on it," he added, motioning for the teen to come closer to his desk and take the paper out of his hands. The blond cautiously obliged and began reading the contents of the sheet with Daxter uncurling himself from his neck and reading from his perch on his shoulder.

"Boy, this sure looks like a lot of stuff to read over for something that you want us to sign our life away on," the Ottsel stated with a low whistle as practically skipped most of the words and went towards the bottom of what looked like to be a contract of sorts. "You don't expect us to read over all this in one sitting, do you?"

"I suggest that you at least try to read over the whole thing with me Dax," his buddy suggested with a small sigh as his eyes glided over the first few lines. "I don't want to end up cleaning up after your mess here."

"Oh fine; I'll read over it," the animal conceded with an overly exaggerated sigh. He then started to read out loud in hopes of annoying both of the people in the room with him. "'I, the reader of this contract...,' Well, what do you know? This damn thing is a contract! 'I, the reader of this contract, shall agree to never speak to anybody outside of this organization the things that go on behind closed doors. I shall also be sure to never disclose the location of this place for fear of punishment in the face of an inquiry in front of the commander and his right-hand man.

"'I understand that The Resistance is a special organization of select people who devote their lives every day in the hopes of bettering the lives of others who cannot do so on their own. Being that I now know of the organization and what it is they do on a daily basis, I hereby agree to never talk with anyone affiliated with the group out in the open. There will be no exception to this rule and breaking of it could result in long term isolation from the outside world to insure the safety of the entirety of our organization. In so signing the first line available on the bottom of this contract, I agree to pertain to the aforementioned set of guidelines and to never step beyond those boundaries.

"'However,'" Daxter continued on, his voice starting to reflect the utter boredom he was feeling from reading this yet feeling pleasure at the same time at the suffering he was causing to both Jak and Torn, "'the signing of the first line on the bottom of this contract is not a direct necessity. If I feel the need to do more than to become just a simple citizen of Haven City who happens to know of The Resistance and where it is that they perform their work, then I agree to sign my name along the second available line at the bottom of the contract. In so doing, I agree to subject myself to training in anticipation of becoming both an active and official member of the organization...'"

"What's the matter?" Torn asked, relieved at finally hearing the Ottsel stop his annoying rant. "Did the alley cat bite off your tongue?"

"...You want us to sign our names on this contract in hopes of either swearing us to secrecy to who you are and what it is that you guys do or to have us enlist into your cause?" the animal asked, his voice raising higher and higher with each word that left his mouth.

"That was the original intention I had in mind when I first handed both of you the contract. After all, you already know too much about us and I can't have you two running amuck in town blabbing to every person in sight where it is that we work. If anything, we prefer to at least have some influence over you to insure our own personal safety. I assure you, we all don't do what it is that we do on a daily basis just because we feel like it. We do it because we want to rid this town of the injustice it has endured over the reigning years of the Baron Praxis."

"...I suppose I can understand what it is that you're asking us to do," Jak responded after he finished silently reading the contents of the contract and brought his eyes off of it to face the commander. "Being that we're right now just normal people in your eyes, you want to exercise some small amount of control over us in order to make sure that your group stays as safe as possible. Do you mind if I spoke in private for a couple of minutes with my buddy here?"

"If you must, then go ahead. I suggest that you make it as quick as possible though. I have other matters that I must attend to soon and I can't afford to be late."

"Don't worry; it shouldn't take no more than a couple of minutes," the blond assured him as he walked over to a corner of the room and faced the wall while plucking Daxter off of his shoulders and looking at him in the eyes.

_I know what it is that you're thinking buddy, and the answer is no,_ the Ottsel replied bluntly before the question was even asked to him. _There's no way that I'm going to be risking my life in a battle that doesn't even concern us all for the sake of satisfying this so-called commander's security for both himself and the people he commands. It's almost as if he wants to get our permission to become his personal slaves. That's definitely something that I'm not going to agree to do. You can count me out._

_That's exactly what I thought you were going to say,_ the teen responded with a small smile cracking at the corners of his mouth. _If that's how you feel about it, then how about I try and make you look at it in a different way? Let's just suppose for a moment that we were a part of The Resistance. Wouldn't this be a good way for us to get back at both Errol and Baron Praxis for trying to torture us with their Dark Eco experiments? This is as good a chance as any that we're going to get in this entire lifetime and you know it._

_And if that doesn't trip a wire in your head, then how about this? Remember what Sig said about his job being able to travel all over the place both in and outside of the city? Remember that we've been trying to figure out where Samos and Keira have been all this time? Think about it; if we sign up to become members of The Resistance, we'd be able to have access to most of the city and even to the outside of the city. That'd definitely increase our odds of finding them._

_...Oh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're right on that big guy,_ Daxter conceded with an audible sigh escaping his lips. _As much as I hate to say this, our main priority here is to find Keira and old Loghead and to try and find a way back home. That and we really need to figure out just what this place really is. I want to know whether or not what that Jinx guy said to us on the ride here is true or not._

_I knew you'd say that if I just steered you in the right direction,_ Jak stated happily as he turned around and faced Torn, who was looking at them with raised eyebrows as if they were doing something strange right under his nose. The teen then said out loud, "Do you have something that we can write with? Dax and I are planning to become members of The Resistance."

"I'm guessing that you two are such good friends that you're able to talk with each other without saying anything," Torn examined, clearly living up to his earlier explanation of himself being able to come up with the correct characterization of people with very limited information at his disposal. He then picked up a pencil from his desk and passed it onto the blond teen when he approached him. "I guess I already know how to best pair you two up for when missions come along. Anyway, make sure the both of you sign your names on the second available line on this contract so that we can make your instatement into The Resistance official. We don't want you two to be killed by your own allies because of a simple technicality."

"Oh, wouldn't that be the biggest joy of all for us?" the orange Ottsel stated sarcastically as he hopped off of his buddy's shoulder and onto the tabletop. "To be killed by the very people we call friends and allies would be real poetic in an ironic sense."

"Well, don't you think that it'd be better than to be killed with a bullet in the back by the enemy?" the blond countered in a teasing way as he placed the contract on the flat surface and began to write his name on the appointed line. This was one of those times he was happy that Samos taught the both of them how to write back when they were younger. "At least then we'll know who it was that caused us to be killed. It's better than not knowing at all."

"That's just basically finding the better of two evils here," the animal replied with a roll of his eyes. He then took the pencil that was handed to him with both of his hands with amazingly great ease and began to carefully write his name right beside Jak's. "All I hope here is that you know what it is that you're getting us into. If we end up getting into a life and death situation, I'll personally kill you before the enemy has a chance to do so. And if they get to us first, then I'll kill you once we get to wherever it is we go to when we all die."

"Just think of it this way; we'd be able to do some good in this city and hopefully help out others that have helped us in the past few months."

"As long as you don't end up getting us killed, then I guess I'm down to do whatever it is that you want us to do. I really do hope though that you know what it is that you're thinking of doing here Jak," Daxter added with a slightly morbid tone in his words as he placed the pencil rather unceremoniously onto the table, earning him a simple eye roll from his blond buddy.


	26. Author's Note

Hello everybody! As with the other note i had just deleted, this is not a story update. Rather, this is just me saying that the second installment of the series is finally up and running for all of you to read. Yes, I know it took a while for it to get up and running, but at least it's now up.

For those of you who were thinking that I was going to update onto this story, I'm sorry to say that I was going to make it under a completely new title. For those who wonder why I would do that, I first felt like doing it so that it would follow how the game was made with it being separated into three different subjects with its own plot yet put together to form one humongous plot. I also did if for a another reason I had just came up with during a very tiring and boring night, but that's something for all of you to figure out while you're reading.

Anyway, the official title for the story is "Jak and Daxter: The Unrestriction". It continues on from where "The Altered Journey" left off with a nice summary to recap the important facts at the beginning. Hope that all you old fans of my first story will go read it and like it just as much or maybe even more than my first installment.


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